India vs Pakistan: Asia Cup 2018 cricket live stream, TV listings and predicted playing XIs

With very little time to rest after Tuesday's hard-fought win over Hong Kong, India face arch-rivals Pakistan in a Group A tie in Dubai. Here's how you can watch the match live on TV, online.

India take on arch-rivals Pakistan in a much-anticipated Group A encounter of Asia Cup 2018 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday, September 19.

When is the India-Pakistan match and how to watch it live

The biggest group-stage tie of Asia Cup 2018 will start at 3:30 pm local time, 5 pm IST and 12:30 pm BST.

Star Sports 1, Star Sports Hindi, and Star Sports Tamil will provide live television coverage of the match in India. The live stream will be available on Hotstar.

What to expect from the Group A match

India vs Pakistan — Rohit Sharma and Sarfraz Khan during the pre-tournament press conference in Dubai.ISHARA S. KODIKARA/AFP/Getty Images

Both India and Pakistan have already qualified for the Super Four stage of Asia Cup after beating Hong Kong in their respective tournament openers.

However, the hype around today's marquee tie is high as the two arch-rivals are meeting for the first time since Pakistan's 180-run win over India in last year's Champions League final.

At a time when India-Pakistan contests have become a rarity due to the long-standing political tension between the two Asian neighbours, there is more emotion attached to occasional encounters.

Also, Wednesday's tie gives an opportunity to both the teams, dubbed as favourites, to lay down an early marker.

Asia Cup history suggests there is very little to separate the two teams as both India and Pakistan have won five each in 10 head-to-head encounters. However, in the United Arab Emirates, the latter's record is superior — 19-7.

Numbers aside, Pakistan, for the first time in more than a decade, start as favourites against their arch-rivals.

Sarfraz Ahmed's men, who handed an eight-wicket thrashing to minnows Hong Kong are heading into the tie with two day's rest as well.

Pakistan Asia Cup 2018 — Pakistan comfortably thrashed Hong Kong in their tournament opener on Sunday.ISHARA S. KODIKARA/AFP/Getty Images

Lack of rest may work against India's favour

On the other hand, Rohit Sharma's men are playing back-to-back matches in the ongoing tournament. They were made to work hard for their 26-run win by Hong Kong, who came up with a spirited performance in Dubai on Tuesday.

Pakistan's pace attack, which excelled against Hong Kong, gives the Men in Green the edge over their arch-rivals. Notably, Mohammed Amir & Co. had plotted India's downfall in the memorable final of 2017 Champions Trophy at Oval, London.

Mohammad Amir, Rohit Sharma, Pakistan cricket — Mohammad Amir.Gareth Copley/Getty Images

The conditions are vastly different in the UAE when compared to the United Kingdom but Pakistan have the experience of playing in Dubai, which has served as one of their home bases since 2009.

It remains to be seen if Rohit's men will be physically ready for a high-pressure encounter, given they will be having less than 15 hours' time to recover after the Hong Kong tie.

India had rested the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya yesterday but the good performances of Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik and debutant pacer Khaleel Ahmed has given the team management selection headaches as well.

All eyes will be on Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal as Pakistan will be facing the spin twins on a sluggish track in their first-ever encounter.

Team news - Predicted playing XIs

Pakistan

Sarfraz Ahmed (c & wk), Fakhar Zaman, Imam Ul Haq, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Usman Khan, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali.

India

Rohit Sharma (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, KL Rahul, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Khaleel Ahmed.