🏏Asia Cup 2023: Pakistan vs Nepal at Multan at 3 PM IST on 30/08/23🏏

🏏Asia Cup 2023: Pakistan vs Nepal at Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan on 30/08/2023 at 3:00 PM IST🏏

Nepal have made their step up to the big stage. A victory in the inaugural ACC Men's Premier Cup earlier this year, where they beat UAE in the final, earned them a spot at the big boys' table. Wednesday (August 30) will mark a momentous occasion in their brief ODI history so far since gaining the status in 2018, as they will play in their first-ever Asia Cup fixture.

Away from the spotlight that is usually reserved for the top sides in this sport, Nepal have put together a side with players bringing incredible returns as far as runs and wickets are concerned. Sandeep Lamichhane for instance, has 42 ODI wickets this year - the most in the format. They have more statistical bright spots throughout the line-up, and will hope they can translate that reputation and ruffle a few feathers, starting with Pakistan - only the No.1 ODI team currently.

Babar Azam's side has started to look well-rounded, with all departments primed to perform in every condition. The two-time champions, who endured an underwhelming campaign in the last Asia Cup in 2018, will aim for a fast start and to pocket some confidence and momentum before running into India in Pallekele on Saturday (September 2). In what will be the first of possibly two home fixtures for them, they start as overwhelming favourites to take all the points as Nepal brace themselves for a tough initiation at the tournament.

finally asia cup starting today

cant wait ❤️

Yay! Asia Cup is finally starting! 🥳 All the best to the teams!

According to weather reports, the temperature of Multan City, Pakistan on August 30 (Wednesday) will be 38° Celcius during the day and fall to 29° Celcius at night. The sky will be clear during the day and night.

The chances of rain are 3% during the day and 0% at night. Hence, the PAK vs NEP match will not be affected by rain. The humidity will be 56% during the day and rise to 61% at night.

Multan Cricket Stadium is a good scoring ground in ODIs. The average 1st innings total is 254 while the average 2nd innings total of 206. The stadium has witnessed 10 ODI games so far.

Out of 10 encounters, the team batting first won 5 games and the team batting second won 5 matches. The highest-ever total at the stadium in ODIs is 323-3 by Pakistan against Bangladesh.

Sweltering Multan heat, with temperatures soaring to close to 40 degrees in the first half of the game. Historically, both spinners and pacers have had similar averages at this venue but the last time an ODI series was played here - against West Indies in June 2022 - the spin trio of Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan and Akeal Hossein were the leading wicket-takers.

Multan hosted all three ODIs during West Indies' tour of Pakistan last year. All three matches produced 250-plus first-innings scores, with Pakistan chasing down 306 in the first ODI. The top three wicket-takers in that series were Nawaz, Shadab and Akeal Hosein, and if conditions play similarly, spinners can expect to play a significant role again. The weather is expected to be hot and dry, with temperatures reaching the high 30s (Celsius).

Team News & Tactics:

Pakistan

The hosts have two top-order batters in Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam who average 66.33 and 60.33 at the venue. They have a stacked batting order with Mohammad Rizwan at No.4 while Agha Salman has also proven to be a handy middle-order batter helping Pakistan shed their top-heavy tag in white-ball cricket. Pakistan are also well endowed in the allrounder department, leaving the management with the happy headache of having to pick one among Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Nawaz and Mohammad Wasim Jr.

Probable XI: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Agha Salman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Wasim Jr., Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf

Nepal

Captain Rohit Paudel is Nepal's batting mainstay. He has 1383 runs in ODIs since 2021 - a tally bettered only by the World's No.1 batter in the format, Babar Azam. In this same period, no bowler has more wickets than their spin bowling star Sandeep Lamichhane. The second and third bowlers on this list are also from the Nepal side - right-arm pace duo of Karan KC and Sompal Kami.

Probable XI: Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh (wk), Bhim Sharki, Rohit Paudel (c), Kushal Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee, Gulsan Jha, Sompal Kami,Karan KC, Sandeep Lamichhane, Lalit Rajbanshi

Did you know:

- Since 2021, no bowler in the world has more wickets than Sandeep Lamichhane (88 scalps)

- In 11 ODI innings this year, Babar Azam has scored six half-centuries and one hundred. He is currently the top-ranked batter in the format

- This will be the first-ever match between these two teams across formats

In the spotlight

After years of being overdependent on their top three, Pakistan are beginning to put together a promising ODI middle order, and a lot of the credit for this must go to Agha Salman, who has a 40-plus average and a 100-plus strike rate after his first 14 games. He has been in a rich vein of form over recent months - he followed an excellent home ODI series against New Zealand with aggressive Test knocks of 83 and 132* on the tour of Sri Lanka, and he comes into the Asia Cup on the back of a crucial unbeaten 38 to end an otherwise quiet series against Afghanistan on a positive note.

An average of 19.93 after 50 ODIs isn't hugely impressive, but Dipendra Singh Airee comes into the Asia Cup with a fair amount of confidence behind him. The middle-order batter impressed at the World Cup qualifier in Zimbabwe in July, scoring an unbeaten 79 to lead Nepal to a three-wicket win over UAE in the seventh-place playoff. He then had the opportunity to play alongside the likes of Andre Russell, Shakib Al Hasan and Chris Lynn at the Global T20 Canada, where he contributed a string of useful 20s to Montreal Tigers' title-winning campaign.

Stats and trivia

Nepal have only played three ODIs against Full-Member teams - one each against Ireland, West Indies and Zimbabwe, all during this year's World Cup qualifier

Babar Azam has scored 18 hundreds in 101 ODI innings. Saeed Anwar, the only Pakistan batter above him on the centuries list, scored 20 in 244 innings

Nepal (51) have played more ODIs than Pakistan (31) in the current World Cup cycle. Only Afghanistan (27), Canada (5) and Jersey (5) have played fewer ODIs than Pakistan

Today's Match Prediction: Pakistan to win the match

So all Indian matches are scheduled for the weekend?