Asian Games final: India favourites to strike gold against Pakistan

Less than 48 hours after the ICC unveiled the schedule of the 2027 ODI World Cup which, not surprisingly at all, sees the marquee India vs Pakistan clash scheduled for a Sunday spectacle, the two teams will face each other in the Asian Games final in Japan, surprisingly, on Saturday morning.

Even though the ODI rivalry between the two neighbours has also been lopsided of late - Pakistan last beat India in the format in the 2017 Champions Trophy - the 50-over game brings with it a lot more history, nostalgia for millennials and some more plot narratives.

Their T20I rivalry is even more uneven. The head-to-head reads 14-3 in India's favour, and India have also won the last six games. Saturday hardly has the potential for making that 14-4. World champions India have sent a star-studded side for the tournament where they demolished a very inexperienced Sri Lanka by bundling them for 45.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan...the list appears to be endless for the mountain of challenges that await a second-string Pakistan.

Form guide

India WWWWW (last five completed games, most recent first)
Pakistan WLWWW

In the spotlight: Sahibzada Farhan and Sanju Samson

Sahibzada Farhan is the man Pakistan need for Saturday. It's only been a year since he took down Jasprit Bumrah single-handedly in the T20 Asia Cup. His scores against India in the tournament were 57, 58 and 40 and even though Pakistan lost on all three occasions, it was his batting at the top that gave Pakistan a semblance of normalcy early in the innings with wickets falling at the other end. Another big score against the arch-rivals is Pakistan will hope for from their captain in the tournament.

Pakistan are the only opposition against whom Sanju Samson has a strike rate of under 100. While that's primarily because he has batted only twice - in the same Asia Cup - against them, Samson will be itching to get some runs against them. He also got a low score of 7 in the semi-final when he was bowled backing away. Samson could also count himself unfortunate because he batted in the middle order in that Asia Cup, and at No. 3 on Thursday, and again he could bat out of position (at No. 3) on Saturday.

Team news

India brought the 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for the semi-final while Sanju Samson moved down to No. 3. They also left out Arshdeep Singh and played Jasprit Bumrah as the lone frontline pace bowler. India may want to give Arshdeep a game on Saturday or he will return from Japan without having bowled a ball in the tournament.

India: 1 Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Sanju Samson (wk), 4 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 5 Ishan Kishan, 6 Tilak Varma, 7 Shivam Dube, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Washington Sundar, 10 Ravi Bishnoi, 11 Jasprit Bumrah

Pakistan will have to field an inexperienced bowling attack but they will be expected to continue with the four spinners because of the turn and bounce on offer.

Pakistan 1 Sahibzada Farhan (capt), 2 Maaz Sadaqat, 3 Usman Khan (wk), 4 Saim Ayub, 5 Hasan Nawaz, 6 Abdul Samad, 7 Arafat Minhas, 8 Ahmed Daniyal, 9 Mohammad Wasim, 10 Sufyan Moqim, 11 Abrar Ahmed

Pitch and conditions

Saturday is expected to be another sunny day, as has been the case in Nisshin recently after a flurry of washouts. There might be a patch of cloud or two with the rain probability around 10% almost throughout the day. The temperature is expected to touch a maximum of 25 degrees Celsius, very pleasant for both South Asian teams.

The pitch is expected to provide some turn and bounce as was the case in the semi-finals.

Stats and trivia