5 active Indian cricketers you might not know once toured Pakistan ft. Virat Kohli
Pakistan is currently hosting the Asia Cup 2023. The Asia Cup 2023 hosting rights were allotted to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as a sole host, but because of off-field reasons, the Indian team refrained from traveling to their neighboring nation.
As a result, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) had to move the majority of the Asia Cup 2023 matches to Sri Lanka. The Indian team will not play a single game in Pakistan. In fact, it has been a long time since the Men in Blue visited the neighboring country for an international cricket match.
The last time India sent a team to Pakistan was in 2008 for the Asia Cup tournament. Not many fans would know that the following five current Indian cricketers have played a match on Pakistan soil.
#1 Rohit Sharma played in Asia Cup 2008
Current Indian captain Rohit Sharma was a member of the Indian squad for the Asia Cup tournament in 2008. Sharma played in all six matches for India, scoring 116 runs at an average of 29. He batted in the middle-order at that time.
Sharma scored one half-century and maintained a strike rate of 72.50 in the competition. The Hitman is currently the Indian skipper in all three formats of international cricket.
#2 Virat Kohli toured Pakistan in 2006
Star Indian batter Virat Kohli has never played international cricket at the senior level in the neighboring country, but he was a member of the India U-19 squad that played an away series against the Boys in Green in 2006/07.
India U-19s beat their neighbors 4-0 in a youth ODI series and also recorded a 2-0 victory in a youth Test series. Virat scored 174 runs in three innings of the Test series at a brilliant average of 58. In the ODI format, he scored 125 runs in three innings at an average of 41.66.
#3 Ravindra Jadeja was a teammate of Virat Kohli in India U-19 squad of 2006
All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was a part of the touring party as well. He was the second-highest run-scorer in the four-match ODI series. Jadeja aggregated 157 runs in four innings at an average of 39.25.
As far as his numbers in the youth Test series are concerned, Jadeja scored 74 runs in two matches. With the ball, he scalped three wickets in two matches and maintained an average of 8.33.
#4 Cheteshwar Pujara
Veteran Indian batter Cheteshwar Pujara was also a part of that India U-19s squad. Pujara scored 103 runs in two matches, including one half-century in the Test format.
Pujara could not impress much in the youth ODI series. He got to play two matches, where he aggregated 22 runs at an average of 11 and a strike rate of less than 50.
#5 Piyush Chawla captained India U-19s on Pakistan tour in 2006
Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla was the skipper of the India U-19s side that played against the Boys in Green in 2006. Chawla led the team from the front by scoring a century in the Test series.
Chawla also aggregated 90 runs and picked up 10 wickets for India U-19s in the four-match youth ODI series. The leg-spinner has not yet retired, but he is working as a commentator in the Asia Cup 2023.