"Whoever bowls better to them will be the game-breaker" - Irfan Pathan on Virat Kohli and Babar Azam ahead of India vs Pakistan in Asia Cup 2023

Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan feels Virat Kohli and Babar Azam will be crucial to India and Pakistan's chances, respectively, in their Asia Cup 2023 encounter on Saturday in Kandy.

Both Kohli and Babar have been absolutely prolific run-scorers, especially in the ODI format, and Pathan reckons the bowling attack that keeps them quiet will make a difference in the high-voltage game.

Speaking to Star Sports ahead of the India vs Pakistan encounter, here's what Irfan Pathan had to say about Virat Kohli and Babar Azam:

"They (Babar and Virat) respect each other a lot, no matter what is said on social media. They will naturally be crucial to their respective team's chances and whoever bowls better to them will be the game-breaker."

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Gautam Gambhir on India vs Pakistan hype

Gautam Gambhir feels social media has a massive role in creating the hype ahead of these encounters. He also shed light on how the two teams do not play enough cricket together, which makes every showdown between them worth waiting for.

Gambhir claimed that sometimes the negative comments on social media affect cricketers. He stated:

"I think the hype around these clashes increase a lot because both teams don't play enough cricket regularly and that makes it a rare occurrence. In this social media age and impact, it does affect the players when they are criticized. So although they aren't really bothered about social media, it does create a bit of hype."

It will be interesting to see the kind of combination the Men in Blue go in with, especially in their batting order.

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India's Asia Cup squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Axar Patel, Suryakumar Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Tilak Varma