Aakash Chopra, a former opener for India, expressed worry over Pakistan’s inconsistent top order.
Recent events in Pakistan have been hot and chilly. In the Asia Cup 2023 and the ensuing pre-ODI World Cup 2023 games, they were far from at their best. The “Men in Green” encountered challenges along the way to their 81-run victory over the Netherlands in their opening match of the current World Cup. In the meanwhile, Sri Lanka let up 428 runs to South Africa before losing by 102 runs.
On Tuesday, October 10 in Hyderabad, the eighth game of the main event features a fight between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. In the first Powerplay of the game against the Netherlands, the previous world champions lost their first three batters by a combined score of 38. Imam-ul-Haq hasn’t been as reliable as he once was, and Fakhar Zaman has been in bad form for a while now. After a sluggish start against the Dutch team, captain Babar Azam also wasted his wicket.
Aakash Chopra, a former opener for India, expressed worry over Pakistan’s inconsistent top order.
The Netherlands were defeated by Pakistan in their opening match. They won despite it being a difficult game. But Pakistan’s top batting order problem still exists; the openers haven’t been able to deliver, and Babar Azam hasn’t been able to show up lately either, said Aakash Chopra, who hosts JioCinema’s daily sports program Aakashvani.
The 46-year-old said of Sri Lanka that the Dasun Shanaka-led team is without seasoned players like Wanindu Hasaranga, Dushmantha Chameera, and Maheesh Theekshana.
“However, despite the surface being rather flat, Sri Lanka let up a lot of runs in their opening game. We can see that they are missing players like Maheesh Theekshana, Dushmantha Chameera, and Wanindu Hasaranga, who are incredibly crucial to them. As a result, Pakistan would be trying to make amends with Sri Lanka after the latter defeated Pakistan in the Asia Cup, Aakash Chopra continued.
Maheesh Theekshana makes his World Cup ODI comeback as Sri Lanka elects to bat against Pakistan.
Theekshana was still experiencing hamstring pain from the hamstring rupture he sustained during the Asia Cup, hence he was unable to play in Sri Lanka’s opening match against South Africa. The unidentified spinner is back in the lineup for the ODI World Cup 2023 match against Pakistan, though.
When Shanaka, the captain of Sri Lanka, won the toss, he decided to bat first. He also declared Theekshana’s replacement of Kasun Rajitha on the side. On the other hand, Pakistan has replaced Abdullah Shafique with a new player and dropped Fakhar from the starting XI.
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