Former Indian cricketer Robin Uthappa has named Pakistan among his top four teams for the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup in India.
During an interaction with official broadcaster of the competition, Star Sports, the 37-year-old picked India, New Zealand and Australia with Pakistan as his semi-finalists.
"Australia always one of the top sides," Uthappa said while mentioning other three.
On the other hand, former Australian stars Shane Watson, Aaron Finch and Sri Lankan legend Muttiah Muralitharan also named the Men in Green among their top four.
It must be noted that the Pakistan team took part in a training session at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad, on Thursday.
This was Pakistan’s first training session after arriving on Indian shores for the ICC World Cup 2023.
Majority of the Pakistan players took part in the session, which included Babar, Shaheen Afridi, Iftikhar Ahmed, Haris Rauf and Hasan Ali.
The Pakistan men's cricket team landed in Hyderabad, India, on Wednesday from Dubai to participate in the mega event.
Pakistan will play two warm-up matches before beginning their World Cup campaign against the Netherlands on October 6.
Arch-rivals India and Pakistan are set to clash in a mouth-watering October 14 contest in Ahmedabad.
Pakistan squad for ICC World Cup 2023
Babar Azam (c), Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, M Wasim Jnr, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha.
Travelling reserves: Mohammad Haris, Abrar Ahmed, Zaman Khan.
Schedule of Pakistan's warm-up matches:
September 29 — vs New Zealand in Hyderabad
October 3 — vs Australia in Hyderabad
Pakistan's schedule for the ICC World Cup 2023:
October 6 — vs Netherlands in Hyderabad
October 10 — vs Sri Lanka in Hyderabad
October 14 — vs India in Ahmedabad
October 20 — vs Australia in Bengaluru
October 23 — vs Afghanistan in Chennai
October 27 — vs South Africa in Chennai
October 31 — vs Bangladesh in Kolkata
November 4 — vs New Zealand Bengaluru (Day match)
November 11 — vs England in Kolkata
The day matches which will start at 10:00am Pakistan Standard Time (PST) while all other matches will be day-night fixtures starting at 01:30pm (PST).
If Pakistan qualify for the semi-finals, they will play in Kolkata.
If India qualify for the semi-finals, they will play in Mumbai unless playing against Pakistan, in which case they will play in Kolkata.
