Asia Cup 2023: Ishan Kishan likely to bat in middle order against Pakistan

India will meet arch-rivals Pakistan in a high-voltage clash of the ongoing Asia Cup on Saturday.

While fans across the globe are excited for the high-octane clash, Team India management is doing a lot of permutation and combination for the final XI.

With KL Rahul being ruled out of group stages of the Asia Cup as he is recovering from a groin niggle, Team India’s latest experiment would be to make Ishan Kishan bat in the middle-order.

Ishan is currently in brilliant form. With three consecutive half-centuries against West Indies and injury niggles to Rahul, Ishan has a chance to seal a middle-order spot in the upcoming ODI World Cup. It will start with the Asia Cup where India are set to try him at No.4 or No. 5 against Pakistan and Nepal.

After scoring a double century against Bangladesh, Ishan had his place sealed as a third choice opener. However, with India’s middle-order composition far from certain and top three batters of Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli looking set, the makeup of the middle order has remained uncertain especially in the absence of Rahul.

With so much experiment going on in the middle order, it may confuse players. Hence, the team management may not try reserve Sanju Samson in the middle order in the ongoing Asia Cup.