The 16th edition of the continental showpiece Asia Cup 2023 began on August 31, where Pakistan took on Nepal, who are playing their maiden season. The team, under Rohit Paudel’s captaincy, lost the match by a huge margin of 238 runs. On the other hand, India also began their season campaign against Pakistan in a high-octane clash on September 2. Pitch Report The Pallekele Stadium in Kandy, Sri Lanka, is renowned for its batting-friendly conditions. The surface doesn’t provide enough assistance to bowlers, thus, offering a plethora of opportunities for batsmen to score runs. As soon as the batters settle in and get into the rhythm, scoring runs doesn’t remain that difficult. Subsequently, as the match progresses, the pitch tends to develop more grip for spinners. Playing XI of Nepal Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh (wk), Rohit Paudel (C), Aarif Sheikh, Sompal Kami, Gulsan Jha, Dipendra Singh Airee, Kushal Malla, Sandeep Lamichhane, Karan KC, Lalit Rajbanshi Playing XI of India Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur/ Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammad Siraj