India pace trouble against Pak

EVER since pacer Mitchell Starc produced a masterclass of swing bowling, bundling out India for 117 and helping Australia level the three-match ODI series against India in Visakhapatnam earlier this year in March, India top order batters have hardly faced a stiff challenge in the opening overs in the 50-over format.

- FIROZ MIRZA

With them taking on Pakistan in their 2023 Asia Cup opener here at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, pace troika-Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf - were always expected to as Indian batters some difficult questions.

The end result of both the ODIS, played six months apart from each other, might not exactly be the same but what remained unchanged was struggles of India's top batters against a genuine pace attack. The three Pakistan pacers shared all ten wickets among themselves as India were dismissed for 266 in 48.5 overs.