KL Rahul or Ishan Kishan? Who could be that guy for India?

The second round of India vs Pakistan, the biggest rivalry of the Asia Cup is all set to take place on Sunday, 10 September. The first match between the arch-rivals was washed out due to rain and only one inning was completed.

It’ll be a thrilling contest to watch these world cricket giants clash once again as the key battle to focus on will be India’s top order vs. Pakistan's furious pace trio. As of now, there is no rain in Colombo as players are kicking off their nets. But there are high chances of rain interrupting the match once again on Sunday. Although there is a reserve day for the clash between India and Pakistan, rain might spoil the reserve day as well. 

Reserve days have been given to only two matches in the Asia Cup, The final and the India vs. Pakistan match. There were some talks of shifting all the matches from Colombo to Hambantota, which is a drier region of Sri Lanka, but officials have confirmed that there will be no changes in the venues.

The pitch of Colombo will aid bowlers of the both teams as it provides good swing earlier and spin later on. It’ll be not easy for batters to get going from the start. The battle to watch out for will be Pakistan’s pace trio against Indian batters. Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, and Haris Rauf are the highest wicket-takers of the tournament so far. whereas, Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shubhman Gill were looking back in touch against Nepal. 

The topic of headache for Indian management would be to choose between KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan as KL Rahul has recovered from his niggle. India might go with KL Rahul as he is picked for provisional squad for the World Cup and management might wanna give him some game time. But, is he the right choice to go with?

Looking at the current form, Ishan Kishan walks into the team without any doubt as he has been so consistent in this format. He has scored four consecutive half-centuries in ODIs and played an amazing knock against Pakistan. Overall, he might be more useful than Rahul as he is the only Left-hand batter in the team. India is likely to go with an almost identical team against Pakistan on Sunday. 

Indian team management might consider the inclusion of Mohommad Shami over Shardul Thakur as he gives proper bowling options for the team and if you want to trouble Pakistan, you’ll have to pick that wicket-taking option. Pakistan batters aren’t in a very great form. Babar Azam is yet to score a half-century against India in ODI form. Fakhar Zaman hasn’t looked good in this Asia Cup. There is definitely going to be a high-voltage clash between these two teams.