Cricadium Staff 
Preview
Hello and welcome to the live coverage of the big game. It’s India v Pakistan once again within a span of 5 days. The previous encounter between the 2 sides was inconsequential in the context of the tournament. But this one is not a dead rubber by any means. Both the teams will be raring to go out there and finish on the winning side.
India had defeated the arch-rivals comprehensively in the last meeting. They are the only undefeated side in the Asia Cup 2018 as of now. The momentum is with them after winning 2 consecutive matches comfortably against Pakistan and Bangladesh respectively.
On the other hand, Pakistan’s performance hasn’t been close to what was expected of them. They play their home matches across formats in the UAE and are more familiar with the conditions than any other team. The Men in Green were termed as the favorites to lift the trophy. But they had a horror against India and then were pushed to the limits versus Afghanistan.
But the past is past and the 2 teams will start afresh. The Dubai International Cricket Stadium will host the second clash between the neighbors. It’s expected to be another sell-out. The match begins at 3:30 PM Local (5 PM IST).
Stadium report
The pitches in Dubai have been helpful for batting. In the first match of the tournament, Bangladesh scored 261 runs against Sri Lanka which proved to be the winning score. India has registered the highest score of the tournament (285/7) so far which came on the same ground against Hong Kong.
India has played all the matches in Dubai. Their batsmen haven’t had too much trouble while the bowlers also have enjoyed a good run. In the last 2 matches, they bowled out Pakistan for 162 and then Bangladesh for 173. Apart from India’s game, Pakistan has played just one more match in Dubai which was against Hong Kong.
Probable XIs
India
Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma (c), Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah
Pakistan
Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed (c), Asif Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Afridi, Hasan Ali, Usman Khan
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