The Indian team, adorned with some of the greatest stars of the current generation of the cricket world, will face the Pakistani team with some unknown faces in the ICC T20 World Cup to be held here on Sunday. It is ready to be served again. The match between India and Pakistan is the center of attraction in any International Cricket Council (ICC) tournament as there is very little sporting activity in them given the sensitive nature of the relationship between the two countries.
Also Read: IND vs PAK Dream11 Team Prediction, Fantasy Cricket Tips
In such a situation, when the cricket teams of India and Pakistan come face to face in an ICC tournament, then the enthusiasm of the audience is also on the heights. If we talk about the ICC ODI and T20 World Cup, then India has won all 12 matches against Pakistan. The Indian team has defeated Pakistan in all five matches since the T20 World Cup started in 2007 and Virat Kohlis team is determined to continue this winning campaign.
India won all the matches in the T20 World Cup under the leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni who is here to accompany Kohli as a mentor. Dhonis presence alone is enough to give a headache to Babar Azam and his teammates. Still, it is a match that everyone is waiting for. From the ICC to the broadcasters, if they focus on making big money from this match, then the feelings of the fans are attached to it.
But T20 is such a format in which the victory of any team can not be considered as sure. Be it Sunil Gavaskar or Sourav Ganguly, everyone who understands this game very well understands that the difference between two teams in this format is very less and any one player can lead his team to victory.
It could also be Kohli who will be determined to return to form from this match. It could also be Shaheen Shah Afridi who will try to dominate the Indian top order. It could be Mohammad Rizwan or Mohammed Shami or Suryakumar Yadav. The players may have been saying that it is like another match for them but they also know very well that their poor performance in this age of technology will haunt them for years.
Also Read: T20 World Cup 2021 Schedule, Points Table
Who knows this better than the current chairman of the selection committee, Chetan Sharma, whose last ball was hit 35 years ago by Javed Miadad for a winning six. But cricket has changed a lot since then and now India has become the strongest force in cricket which has many good players. Cricketers like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah are not among the players to progress on the basis of previous matches or come under any kind of pressure.
There will be more pressure on Pakistan than on India. Players like Shaheen Afridi, Rizwan, Haris Rauf, and Babar not only have the responsibility of breaking the myth related to the World Cup against a world-class team, but they will also have to change the perception of the cricket world about Pakistan, due to which England and New Zealand recently announced their Pakistan. The tour was canceled.
Pakistan cricket has been facing an existential crisis in the last few years and in such a situation, a match against India may take some life in it but it will not be easy. Indian players are entering this tournament by playing in the Indian Premier League in UAE while Pakistan have been playing their home series here.
The strong side of Indian batting are its top five batsmen Rohit, KL Rahul, Kohli, Suryakumar, and Rishabh Pant. This is the kind of batting order that can blow Afridi, Rauf, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan. If Hardik Pandya plays only as a batsman, then Indias trouble will be with the sixth bowler.
In the bowling department, Bumrah, Shami, Ravindra Jadeja, and Varun Chakraborty are sure to be selected. Bhuvneshwar Kumars experience can give him priority over Shardul Thakur. Ravichandran Ashwin will get priority over Rahul Chahar if additional spinners are to be kept. However, the Indian team management can also make some surprising selections.
As far as Pakistan is concerned, its main player is captain Babar who is batting well in all three formats. They will need proper cooperation from Shaheen Afridi in bowling. Imad, a left-arm spinner with a stellar record in the UAE, could spell trouble for the Indian middle order. Experienced Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez will also be desperate to take revenge on India.
Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Shardul Thakur, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar Varun Chakraborty, Rahul Chahar
Babar Azam (Captain), Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haider Ali.
The weather in Dubai is not very hot in the month of October. In such a situation, the same weather is expected on Sunday during the India-Pakistan match. On this day, the maximum temperature in Dubai is going to be 34 and the minimum is 26 degrees. The weather will be clear and there is no chance of rain. But dew will be a big factor in the match of the night.
Some matches of the second phase of IPL 2021 were also played on this ground just before the World Cup. The league final also took place here. During that time the pitch of Dubai was a bit slow. Team India also played both their practice matches on this ground and even then the pitch did not show much change. However, the Indian batsmen performed well here and played a key role in the teams victory.
So far 61 T20 Internationals have been played at this ground, in which the team batting first has won 34 while the team batting first has won 26 matches. During IPL 2021 also, 13 matches were played here, in which the run-chasing team won the maximum 9 matches, while the team batting first could achieve success in only 4 matches.
At present, the role of dew is going to be more here, which was also seen in practice matches and IPL. The dew makes it a bit easier to chase here. In such a situation, both the teams here would like to bowl first after winning the toss.
There have been a total of 12 matches between India and Pakistan including the ODI and T20 World Cup. Out of this, India has won the toss eight times. Seven times Team India has won matches while batting first. Team India batted first in the India-Pakistan match that was tied during the group round in the 2007 World Cup.
India: 192/5 (Ahmedabad, 2012)
A minimum score between the two teams-
Pakistan: 83/10 (Asia Cup 2016, Dhaka)
Who will win the match today?