Indian cricket team

Asia Cup El Clasico is between India and Pakistan.

The Asia Cup cricket ODI tournament will start today at the Multan Cricket Stadium. The opening match is between Pakistan and Nepal at 3 pm. India’s first match is against Pakistan at Pallekele in Sri Lanka on Saturday.
The Asia Cup has also been subject to its own turmoil over the past six months. At one stage, the tournament looked like a non-starter due to the conflict between the India and Pakistan cricket boards.

Then, the tournament could not afford to literally click the two nations that enriched the folklore of the tournament. Since its inception in 1984, the tournament has grown from three to four to six teams, but remains largely the same as the Copa America. Like Brazil and Argentina in America’s continental football tournament, El Clasico in the Asia Cup is between India and Pakistan.

It is the fixture that also adds luster to the tournament, with both teams regularly battling it out in the same group to ensure at least two encounters. This is a match where spectators spend huge sums of money. This is the highlight of the tournament.
Matches between these two neighbors are limited to ICC events and the Asia Cup. The first of at least three matches between the two countries is scheduled for Saturday. If both teams go far here and in the World Cup, it could be four or five. With India and Pakistan sitting on the cusp of five matches in three months, the arrangement resembles that of football rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid in 2011.

While the World Cup is underway, the Asia Cup is a big event for these two giants who are performing well in the showpiece event. Like El Clasico back in the day, there are no underdogs or underdogs here. World No. 1 Pakistan take on Nepal in their Asia Cup opener in Multan, with a front-three as solid as ever, and what Pakistan need to emerge as the team to beat in these conditions is some support from their middle order. As part of their preparations, they were in Sri Lanka two weeks ago to play Afghanistan in three ODIs before returning home to complete the Pakistan leg of the Asia Cup. Overall, they appear to be a more stable unit.

With the World Cup back home, India cut a different chapter in 2011 when it became the first country to lift the World Cup on home soil. As a predecessor, MS Dhoni won the Asia Cup here without Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag in the business end of the tournament. But the current situation could spell trouble for this team, with four of the team’s first-choice players returning from long-term injuries and one of them (KL Rahul) already out of the first two matches, so they don’t have much confidence. Rather than using the tournament as a dress rehearsal for the World Cup, India are relying on the tournament to find their best combination and find a consistent batting line-up.

Of course, a good performance in the tournament does not guarantee success in the World Cup, but it could be a sign of things to come. Last year, when the Asia Cup was held in the T20 format ahead of the T20 World Cup, India lost to Pakistan and Sri Lanka. This should have raised alarm bells, but it was seen as a false alarm and England failed to reach the semi-finals. India seems to be in a similar place again.

2023-08-30 03:24:01

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