🏏Asia Cup 2023: M5: India vs Nepal in SL on 04/09/2023 at 3PM IST 🏏 - Page 3

2.15pm The sun is out in Pallekele for the moment, and there are no covers on. Let's hope it stays this way.

Pavin: "Gill had a tremendous streak up to the end of the IPL, but of late he is into slow starts and eventually falling trying to up his scoring rate. His strike rotation has dropped down considerably. A serious chink in India's opening armor that needs to be corrected asap." -- Reading comments like this, you wouldn't know that he averages above 60 in ODIs and made 85 in his last game before this tournament!

Soham: "What if this game is also ruined by rain? Will that lead to a dramatic India exit and Nepal qualifies?" -- A washout will mean India qualify alongside Pakistan. This is Nepal's last group game, so they have to win to have any chance.

Pitch Report | Sanjay Manjrekar and Matthew Hayden: "The same pitch India played Pakistan. The wicket looks really flat. Around a good length, it falls away a little bit and then rises up, that's why the pacers are getting variable bounce. The spinners will have something to say. It's nice and dry. Bowlers like Kuldeep who throw it up will get bounce and extract some turn as well."

India have won the toss and have opted to field

2.30pm Toss time. It's Javagal Srinath's 250th international game as match referee, by the way.

Rohit Sharma wins the toss, and India will bowl first. As he begins to speak, it begins to drizzle. He's not sure we'll have a full game today, so he wants his bowlers to get some game time.

Rohit Sharma: We are gonna bowl first. No particular reason. We batted in the last game. We want to see what the bowlers have in offer for us. I don't know about the weather. We just want to have the bowlers to have a game under the belt. The way we batted under pressure, Hardik and Ishan batted brilliantly. Ishan showed a lot of maturity and took the game on as well. Good signs for us. It's another important game for us. One change. Bumrah is not available, we've got Shami in place for him.

India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj

Rohit Paudel: We were looking to bowl as well due to the overhead conditions. Today is the biggest day for Nepal cricket. Great opportunity for us. One change, in place of Aarif Sheikh, Bhim Sharki comes in.

14:34 Local Time, 09:04 GMT, 14:34 IST: Uh-oh! The covers were brought on to cover the pitch when Rohit Paudel was speaking at the toss.