Pakistan vs Nepal: Asia Cup 2023 Match Preview, Team News, Pitch Report, Possible Lineups & Dream XI Team Prediction

Pakistan will take on Nepal in the first match of the Asia Cup 2023 on Wednesday (August 30). Pakistan will host four matches and nine matches will be played in Sri Lanka. Except for India, the rest of the five teams will play games in Pakistan. This will also be the first time Nepal will be participating in the Continental Cup.

Pakistan warmed for the Asia Cup by defeating Afghanistan 3-0 in the ODI series. Shaheen Afridi, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, and Shadab Khan performed well and won some close matches. Both sides will aim to kickstart their campaign with a win before going forward.

Read Also: Asia Cup 2023: Squads of all the teams

Asia Cup 2023: Pakistan vs Nepal Match Preview

Match Details

• Match: Pakistan vs Nepal
• Date: 30/08/2023
• Time: 3:00 PM (IST)
• Venue: Multan Cricket Stadium, Pakistan
• Where to watch: Star Sports Network & Disney + Hotstar

Venue | Pitch Report | Weather

The Multan Cricket Stadium is a batting-friendly surface and is expected to assist the batters. Pacers might get some help towards the latter half of the match while spinners may come in handy in the middle overs. Reverse swing might also disturb the batters, so they need to keep an eye on the ball. Teams winning the toss might choose to chase the total, with the average first innings total being 239. 

Multan Cricket Stadium:

• Total ODI Matches: 10
• Matches won batting first: 5
• Matches won bowling first: 5
• Average first innings score: 254
• Average second innings score: 206
• Highest total scored: 323/3 by Pakistan vs Bangladesh
• Highest score chased: 306/5 by Pakistan vs West Indies

Pakistan vs Nepal | Head-to-Head

Asia Cup 2023: Pakistan vs Nepal | Team News

Pakistan

Pakistan announced their playing XI on Tuesday. They picked three fast bowlers - Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, and Haris Rauf and two spin-bowling allrounders - Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz. Faheem Ashraf and Mohammad Wasim are not included in the playing XI, who took a four-wicket haul for Pakistan A against Nepal during the Emerging Cup in July. 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 will be a key player for Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2023 and the upcoming World Cup 2023.

Nepal

After winning the ODI status in 2018, Nepal are now ranked 15th in the format. They are so close to achieving even bigger dreams given that the next ODI World Cup, in 2027, will feature 14 teams. Sompal Kami's participation in the World Cup qualifier was cut short by a hand injury. He sustained that injury during Nepal's match against Zimbabwe. He will make his ODI return and lead their pace attack alongside Karan KC. 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.

Pakistan vs Nepal | Possible XI

Pakistan:

• FK Zaman
• Babar Azam (C)
• IU Haq
• SH Khan
• Iftikhar Ahmed
• Mohammad Nawaz
• Mohammad Rizwan (wk)
• S Afridi
• Haris Rauf
• Naseem Shah
• Usama Mir

Nepal:

• Aarif Sheikh
• B Sharki
• Rohit Kumar Paudel (C)
• K Bhurtel
• Dipendra Singh Airee
• Kushal Malla
• Arjun Saud (wk)
• Lalit Rajbanshi
• Gulshan Kumar Jha
• Sandeep Lamichhane
• K Mahato

Asia Cup 2023: Pakistan vs Nepal | Dream XI Team Prediction