PAK vs IND 3rd Match - Group A Prediction

PAK vs IND Team Previews

Pakistan

Pakistan is the newly crowned number 1 ranked ODI team in the world. It has got there because of its brilliant pace attack, the brilliance of Imam ul Haq and Babar Azam at the top, and an impressive amount of batting depth. 

We think the win against India in the T20 World Cup 2021, as well as the win in the Champions Trophy 2017, has given Pakistan a lot of confidence that they can defeat India on their day. The batters that we are looking out for in this match are Imam ul Haq, Babar Azam, and Fakhar Zaman. 

Imam ul Haq is brilliant in the ODI format. He averages 51.50 over 62 matches with 9 centuries and 18 fifties! His average against India is just 6.33 with a best of 10 in three matches. Not the greatest but he is in good form coming into this match. 

The real prize wicket is Babar Azam. The ease with which he reels of ODI runs is brilliant and he just needs to bat at his normal tempo. The problem for Pakistan is that Fakhar Zaman has not been in great form and the middle-order is a bit untested. 

Too often, Shadab Khan has had to bail the team out with some cameos from the lower order. A conservative start to keep wickets in hand is what we expect from Pakistan.

The bowling lineup will definitely feature Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, and Naseem Shah. This is probably the best bowling attack in the world. Genuine pace, swing, and venom at all stages of the game. Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi will attack with the new ball while Haris Rauf will come first change. 

Shadab Khan is the lead spinner and the conditions will determine whether the fifth bowler is a spinner or a fast bowler. 

India

India is already on the back foot heading into this match against Pakistan as KL Rahul, its first-choice wicketkeeper-batter, is unavailable for this match. In his absence, India will have to either shake up its top order or make Ishan Kishan bat out of position. 

We have a feeling it will be Virat Kohli who shifts down to number four with Shubman Gill coming in at 3 so that Kishan can open the batting with Rohit Sharma. 

India's batting is quite strong with a lot of experience and depth. The focus will be on Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma but do not count out Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, or even Hardik Pandya. Most of India's ODI batters average around 50 and are used to scoring big runs. 

The only problem that India has is in finding the right balance of its playing eleven because none of its batters bowl and none of its bowlers bat. India's batting ends at number seven with four number eleven to follow. We think this could be somewhat negated by playing Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel/Shardul Thakur at 6,7,8. 

The question, though, is whether India would be better served playing Mohammad Shami, Mohammad Siraj, and Jasprit Bumrah and simply backing its top-7 batters to do the job. In our opinion, India will have to choose two of its three fast bowlers, probably Siraj and Bumrah, with Kuldeep Yadav as the wrist-spinner and fill the rest of the overs with its all-rounders. 

With the current uncertainty in the team balance and some possible upheaval in the middle-order, we are finding it hard to justify the odds being offered on India. Yes, its recent record is excellent against Pakistan but this is not a team that is at its peak right now.