Asia Cup 2018: India's predicted XI against Pakistan

Having pulled off a runaway victory against Bangladesh which saw them prevail over the Tigers with a convincing margin of 7 wickets, India will now go head-to-head against their arch-rivals Pakistan on 23 September at the Dubai International Stadium.

Since both the teams have already triumphed in their first Super Four clash, the winner of this key fixture will easily progress to the finals of the tournament. Consequently, both Pakistan and India are anticipated to field their best possible XI for the consequential encounter.

So let us take a look at how India could line up to face Pakistan tomorrow.

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Openers: Rohit Sharma (C) and Shikhar Dhawan

India's opening slot has long been monopolized by Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan and the duo has been the mainspring of the team's batting order, notching up a number of remarkable partnerships over the course of past few years.

Since the Asia Cup 2018 commenced, the pair has been in sublime form. Shikhar Dhawan was splendid in the opening encounter against Hong Kong as he scored a stroke-filled century to help India scrape past the associates.

Rohit Sharma was also impressive versus Bangladesh on Friday, racking up an unbeaten 83 off 104 balls to skipper India to a walkover. As such, there's absolutely no doubt as to who will open the account for the Men in Blue against their arch-rivals, Pakistan.

Middle-Order: Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik and MS Dhoni (WK)

Following Virat Kohli's exclusion from the squad, this is the ideal time for the team management to experiment with various options in the batting order. Thus far, they have only put Ambati Rayudu and Dinesh Karthik to the test and the two have done nothing wrong barring Rayudu's poor showing against Bangladesh to be kept out from the starting XI.

As for MS Dhoni, India will be in dire need of his leadership and experience with Rohit Sharma at the helm of the team.

All-rounders: Kedar Jadhav and Ravindra Jadeja

India v Pakistan - ICC Champions Trophy Final

Kedar Jadhav has been crucial for Team India in this tournament owing to his steady 28 versus Hong Kong and 3 much-needed wickets against Pakistan that completely toppled their middle order. Even though he did not contribute much in the last match, he is a guaranteed starter for the upcoming fixture.

Ravindra Jadeja came in as a replacement for the injured Axar Patel and was immediately drafted in for the first Super Four clash. And boy, was he terrific. With 4 vital scalps, Jadeja was the standout bowler on Friday, making his exclusion criminal for the match against Pakistan.

Spinners: Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal

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After bulldozing the Hong Kong batsmen, it has not been the ideal tournament for Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. While Chahal went wicketless in both the following matches, Kuldeep Yadav only managed a single scalp against Pakistan before failing to claim a wicket in the Super Four.

However, India cannot afford to rest either of the two for the high-priority encounter against Pakistan.

Pacers: Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah

Blessed with one of the most lethal fast-bowling combinations in the ODI format, India are expected to field Bumrah in tandem with Bhuvneshwar Kumar for the clash between the two arch-rivals.

Both the quicks have been excellent in the last two matches, bagging a combined total of 11 wickets. Their contributions against Pakistan in the previous match came in handy to restrict the Green Shirts to a cheap total.