Kuldeep Out, Arshdeep Back? India's Strongest XI For Champions Trophy Match Vs Pakistan

Will Arshdeep be back Vs Pakistan? [Source: @_Hittu001/X.com]

India sealed an emphatic win over Bangladesh in their Champions Trophy opening match. The Men in Blue suffered a bit of hiccup, but they eventually won the contest by 6-wickets to get a morale boosting win before the big clash Vs Pakistan at the same venue on February 23.

India needed 229 runs to win on a sluggish wicket and despite losing a couple of wickets in quick succession, Shubman Gill played a calm and composed knock and scored a brilliant hundred to steer India home.

Now, Rohit Sharma's team shift their focus towards arch-rivals, Pakistan, in a game which could decide India's fate for the semis. Pakistan need to win this match in order to stay alive in the competition. Ahead of the match, we look at India's strongest playing XI, with a couple of changes in mind.

Batting order to stay the same, no changes required

The batting order shouldn't be tweaked as India have the best lineup in the entire tournament. Expect Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill to provide a fiery start, with Virat Kohli looking to continue his love affair with Pakistan.

Shreyas Iyer will be tested against the Pakistan pacers, but he should manage to deal with them with ease. KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja form a strong middle and lower-middle order as India look to seal the win against them.

Should India drop Kuldeep and pick Chakravarthy?

Kuldeep stats Vs Bangladesh

Kuldeep Yadav, for his lofty standards had an average outing as the Bangladesh batter played him with relative ease. However, the team management could be tempted to bring in Varun Chakravarthy, who is a mystery for the opposition batters. 

However, Kuldeep has an excellent record Vs Pakistan in ODIs, as he has scalped 12 wickets in 6 matches, and it also includes a fifer which he picked against them during the Asia Cup in 2023. India, don't believe in too many chopping and changing and are likely to go ahead with Kuldeep for this particular game at-least.

Arshdeep back against his favourite opponent?

Arshdeep Singh, who was ahead Harshit Rana in terms of pecking order was not considered for the opening match Vs Bangladesh, however, the team management knows that he has a stellar record against Pakistan in T20Is.

Arshdeep Singh T20I record Vs Pakistan

He hasn't played any ODI matches against Pakistan, but as the numbers suggests, he has an impeccable record in T20Is Vs them. However, the team management has shown a lot of faith in Harshit Rana and are likely to persist with him despite Arshdeep's better record against India's arch-rivals.

Hence, there is a great chance that despite the numbers telling a different story, the Indian team will go in with the same playing XI which featured Vs Bangladesh.

India strongest XI Vs Pakistan

Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav

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