Asia Cup 2018, India vs Pakistan: Match preview and expected playing XIs 

Team India are on a roll in the Asia Cup as they won three consecutive matches. Rohit Sharma has been leading the side excellently in the absence of regular skipper Virat Kohli. Even though they fought hard for the win against Hong Kong, they came back strongly to win the next two matches quite comprehensively against Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan have been in fine form and provided fine starts to the team in all the matches so far in the tournament. Shikhar Dhawan is leading the tournament's batting charts currently with 213 runs in three matches at an average of 71. Rohit Sharma also scored 158 runs at an average 79 and stands at the fourth position after the first day of group matches.

The middle order has been relatively untouched until now as the top-order has been scoring the bulk of runs. Ambati Rayudu has scored a fifty in the opening match against Hong Kong but did not have a much significant role to play in other matches.

The bowlers, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah, are on fire for India as they have provided the crucial breakthroughs whenever summoned by the skipper. Bhuvi has taken six wickets in three matches whereas Bumrah has scalped five wickets in two matches he played so far.

The wrist-spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal had a wicket-less game against Bangladesh but are expected to be back hunting for wickets together in all important clash against arch-rivals Pakistan. The flamboyant all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who made a triumphant comeback into the ODI side in the last game, will look to continue his good run of form and cement his place in the line-up. India are expected to play the same XI that played the last game and KL Rahul might have to wait a little bit longer for his chance.

Pakistan, on the other hand, managed to escape with a narrow three-wicket win against Afghanistan on back of a Man of the Match performance from Shoaib Malik in their last match. Their bowling department, as usual, has been consistent but their batsmen have been struggling to score runs.

The openers Fakhar Zaman and Imam who were in good form in the lead up to the tournament have completely disappointed with a string of low scores. They are expected to make some changes to their playing XI as Mohammed Amir and Shadab Khan who missed out against Afghanistan might come back into the playing XI.

The two teams head-to-head record in Asia Cup stands at 6-5 in favour of Team India. It will be interesting to see whether Pakistan will make it even or not in the upcoming clash.

India's expected XI - Rohit Sharma (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal.

Pakistan's expected XI - Fakhar Zaman, Imam ul Haq, Babar Azam Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Asif Ali , Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi.