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Former Indian pacer S Sreesanth believes star batter Virat Kohli will bring up his 48th ODI hundred in India's next 2023 World Cup encounter against Pakistan in Ahmedabad on Saturday, October 14.
Kohli looked set to get to the milestone during his sensational knock against Australia but missed out by just 15 runs. However, Sreesanth feels the big-match player will rise to the occasion against the arch-rivals.
Speaking exclusively to Sportskeeda, Sreesanth also claimed that if India lose early wickets, Hardik Pandya will produce an all-round performance and win the Player of the Match award. He said:
"I feel Virat Kohli or Hardik Pandya will win the player of the match against Pakistan. Hardik will score some runs after a shaky start and will have an all-round performance. Virat will score his 48th ODI hundred against Pakistan."
Sreesanth feels Pakistan will struggle against India
The 2011 World Cup winner accepted that Pakistan have played great cricket in the World Cup so far to win both their games. However, he reckons that the in-form Indian batting line-up could be a bit too much to handle for Babar Azam and Co.
On this, he stated:
"Pakistan are doing well of late, but against Rohit, Virat and KL Rahul in good form and then if Shubman Gill comes back, then comes Hardik and Jadeja, if anyone can win the world cup, it's India."
Pakistan pulled off the highest successful run-chase in the history of World Cups in their last game (345/4) against Sri Lanka and will come into the encounter against India brimming with confidence.
India's 2023 World Cup Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami.
