Asia Cup 2018: Predicting the winner of the match between India and Pakistan

The highly awaited Asia Cup clash between arch-rivals India and Pakistan is set to take place today in Dubai.

Both the teams won their first encounter against Hong Kong, albeit in a different manner. While Pakistan strolled to an easy eight-wicket victory over them, India were put through an extremely tough test.

Chasing 286 for victory, Hong Kong were on the verge of causing the upset of the decade. Their openers set the perfect platform, putting on a 174 run partnership for the first wicket. However, India clawed their way back into the game thanks to their spinners and won the match by 26 runs in the end.

With one win on the board for each side, India and Pakistan have qualified for the semifinals. However, both the sides will not hold anything back in today's high octane encounter.

The last time they faced off in an ODI was in the Champions Trophy final in 2017, with Pakistan thrashing India to lift the trophy. The Men in Blue will look to avenge their defeat against their arch-rivals this time around and go on top of the table.

Let's take a look at the how the match might pan out:

Time: 17:00 IST

Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai

Team news:

India: We could expect KL Rahul to make way for Dinesh Karthik and we might see Shardul Thakur dropped as well to make way for Jasprit Bumrah. India might go in with another change, bringing in Hardik Pandya for either Bhuvneshwar Kumar or Kedar Jadhav. However, Jadhav did perform well with the bat and ball last night to prove himself.

Pakistan: We could expect them to go in with an unchanged side.

Head to Head:

In the Asia Cup, India have defeated Pakistan 6 times while Pakistan have got the better of India on 5 occasions. There was one match with no result.

If India bat first:

Predicted score: 260+

India lost against Pakistan the last time they chased. So, we might see them opt to bat first if they win the toss. Rohit Sharma, who failed to get going after a decent start against Hong Kong, will look to come out all guns blazing. The battle against the Pakistan pace attack, especially Mohammed Amir, will be a mouth-watering one. It is vital that India get off to a good start if they want to get a big total on the board. KL Rahul and Ambati Rayudu will look to provide the stability in the middle order while Kedar Jadhav and MS Dhoni will look to finish things off. Given the nature of the pitch, we could expect India to score around 260-280 runs on the board.

If Pakistan bat first:

Predicted score: 270+

Fakhar Zaman will look to continue from where he left off against India last time. However, he will be up against Jasprit Bumrah, who will be looking to get his revenge and take his wicket. If the Pakistan openers get off to a flier, we could expect a big total on the board. With Babar Azam and Shoaib Malik in the middle-order, there is a lot of stability. Sarfraz Ahmed and Asif Ali will look to apply the finishing touches. With Pakistan as well, we could expect them to score around 260-280 runs on the board.

Prediction:

We could expect an enthralling encounter between the two sides, with the match going right down to the wire. Pakistan look the slightly better side, hence, we could expect them to achieve the vital victory tonight and go on top of the table.