India vs Pakistan Predicted XI, World Cup 2023: Shubman Gill to return in place of Ishan Kishan?

India will be aiming for their third consecutive victory in the ODI World Cup 2023 when they take on arch-rivals Pakistan on Saturday at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Both teams are currently on a two-game winning streak.

World Cup 2023: News | Schedule | Results | Points table

India defeated five-time world champions Australia in their first game before getting better of Afghanistan. Pakistan started the World Cup with a victory over the Netherlands and defeated Sri Lanka in their second match by registering a World Cup record chase.

Ideally, both teams will not look to tinker with the playing XIs that fetched them victories in the last match but India could be seen making a change as first-choice opener Shubman Gill has recovered from dengue fever.

The opener was also seen batting for an hour in the nets on Friday ahead of the mega India vs Pakistan match. This means Gill could come back into the XI and replace Ishan Kishan at the top. Kishan so far has scores of 0 and 47 from two matches.

However, Gill’s inclusion will depend on how fit he feels on the matchday.

“Shubman Gill is 99 per cent available, we will see tomorrow,” India captain Rohit had said on Friday.

IND vs PAK: Men in Blue aim to extend streak against arch-rivals to 8-0

Besides Gill, India are not expected to make any change. While some may feel that Ravichandran Ashwin should make a comeback in place of Shardul Thakur, it’s unlikely to happen. India have preferred two spinners in Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav alongside two pacers — Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj — and two all-rounders — Hardik Pandya and Shardul Thakur — whenever all the players are fit.

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India could follow the same template against Pakistan as they feel Thakur provides them with the necessary batting support lower down the order.

India predicted XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohammad Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah,

Pakistan predicted XI: Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf