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T20 World Cup | IND vs PAK: Traditional rivalry returns as India, Pakistan begin campaign

The broadcasters had to wait for more than two years to release another ‘Mauka Mauka’ advertisement as India had last played Pakistan in the 50-over World Cup in 2019. They could have come face to face in 2020 had the Covid-19 situation wasn’t there. 

BUT…BUT…BUT…Here we are some moments away from the most-awaited, exciting and high-voltage drama that will take place in Dubai on a Sunday evening. 

YESSS…India will be up against Pakistan in an ICC tournament fixture. 

Pakistan have already made some said and unsaid statements ahead of the clash. For instance, captain Babar Azam is pretty confident and said, “the team is not thinking of the past but the future'. Well, that’s certainly a good approach as the game is all about the present and not past records. Second, Pakistan announced the 12-man squad ahead of the India clash.

On the other hand, India captain Virat Kohli has admitted that Pakistan is a strong side to face and it would require plan and execution to dominate them. “Pakistan are a strong team, we need to come up with a strong plan and execute it well,” he said ahead of the match. 

Well, these bold statements, media bytes can go on forever but the bottom line is that whenever there is an India-Pakistan clash scheduled, the two teams have to start from scratch. 

Match Details 

India vs Pakistan, Match 16, Super 12 Group 2

Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai

Date & Time: October 24th, at 7:30 PM IST and 6:00 PM Local Time

Live Streaming: Star Sports Network and Disney+Hotstar

Pitch Report

The Dubai track turned out to be an absolute paradise for the bowlers in the England vs West Indies match. Bowling first, England dominated from the ball go and skittled out Windies for just 55 runs, their lowest in the T20 World Cup. The track in Dubai always has something on offer for the batsman, but the key is to conservatively approach the first six overs, where there is a definite help for the fast bowlers.  Beyond those overs, Dubai has seen a higher degree of turn with an average turn for spinners at 2.3 degrees against Abu Dhabi that has 1.7.

So, if you win the toss, hundred per cent bowl first and make the best use of whatever grip you can get from the track.

Team News

India: India captain Virat Kohli has said that all-rounder Hardik Pandya is slowly moving towards the stage where he can bowl at least a couple of overs in the tournament. 

“Hardik (Pandya) is getting to the stage where he can bowl a couple of overs at some point during the tournament,” Virat Kohli told reporters on Saturday.

Pakistan: Pakistan announced the 12-man squad for this important encounter against India and the management has included the likes of experienced Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik. 

Current form 

The India batters were on song in both their warm-up matches. From Rohit Sharma to KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan, the batsmen just took the onus on themselves and chased down the target in a pretty authoritative way on both occasions. 

On the other hand, the Pakistan bowlers suffered hammering from Rassie van der Dussen and Temba Bavuma during the practice game against South Africa. Van der Dussenn struck a century and helped his side chase down a target of 187 runs. Well, the warm-up matches are considered as the dress rehearsal for the main tournament and they give an opportunity to the team management to make those small tweaks.

Pakistan think tank would be keeping an eye on how the Indian batters have been performing. 

Concerning form of Virat Kohli

India skipper Virat Kohli’s hundred droughts are increasing with every passing day but what is more concerning is his form with the bat. In the recent outings in UAE during the IPL and warm-up match, Kohli hasn’t really had a great time. In the last five innings that he has batted, Kohli has only managed to cross the 20-run mark twice while having a couple of single-digit scores as well to his name. 

Moreover, the right-hander’s batting strike rate isn’t that quick and after he confirmed that he would be playing at the number three spot, Kohli would be required to fine-tune his scoring rate so that the other batters aren’t under the pump. 

Problem of plenty for India

If you want to see an example of ‘turning fortunes’, Ishan Kishan it is. The left-handed batsman has been on a ruthless run in the past three matches and has notched up fifties on all three occasions. Looking at the young lad’s batting, it gives you a certain feeling that he is up there to prove something. 

But this ‘but’ wouldn’t really bring much joy for Ishan’s fans. Despite the fact that the youngster is in that good touch, it’s difficult for him to find a place in the final XI as the top-order comprises Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Kohli while Rishabh Pant would be India’s first-choice wicket-keeper batsman. 

Apart from this, Pant is someone who can take on the bowlers from the word go while Ishan takes a bit of time to get his eye in. 

‘Steady’ Babar Azam

Pakistan captain Babar Azam has been in sublime form in the past few T20 matches that he has played barring the last warm-up matches. He was among runs during the domestic T20 tournament but the right-hander is another batter whose scoring rate is a bit of a problem at the highest level. 

Babar has the ability to score runs but not as quickly as the other batsmen in the line up. 

So, he can play the role of keeping things steady for his side and be the anchor throughout the innings. 

The opening combination will be key for Pakistan where Babar and Mohammad Rizwan will have the onus to score most of the runs. The pair is statistically the best batting combination Pakistan can afford and score runs at 9 RPO when they bat together.

Riding on experience

Pakistan have included Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik in the squad of 12 for the India game. Both the players have played a lot of cricket all around the globe and are rated in the list of some of the finest batters that world cricket has seen. Apart from this, both Hafeez and Malik can be handy with the ball too which adds a lot of quality to that formidable unit of the Pakistan team. 

Probable XI

India: Rohit Sharma, Lokesh Rahul, Virat Kohli (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy

Pakistan: Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Babar Azam (c), Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf

CE Fantasy XI

Mohammad Rizwan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Babar Azam, Asif Ali, Ravindra Jadeja (C), Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur, Varun Chakravarthy, Shaheen Afridi (VC) 

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T20 World Cup | All bases covered, seasoned India are hot favorites to finally go all the way

The Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai has witnessed two high profile World Cup matches for India in the past decade and while one produced an unforgettable memory when MS Dhoni hit a six to win an ODI World Cup in 2011, the other—the semi-final against West Indies in 2016 T20 World Cup produced a night that every Indian fans and player would have loved to forget. Virat Kohli has been India’s trump card with the bat in the last three T20 World Cups and hence it was a poetic injustice that it was his bowling when Andre Russell hit a mighty six and brought up a deathly silence at the Wankhede. India were the firm favourites to win that edition of the World Cup as they had earlier shed the trend of host countries not winning the big global tournament and had the arsenal up their sleeves to live the dream once again. However, it was not to be and they fell short of firepower against an all cylinders firing West Indies side that went on to win the title and left the men in blue scratching their heads in frustration at what could have been. Outlook India, like the last three editions, are one of the firm favourites to lift the trophy for the second time after winning the inaugural edition in 2007. However, the expectations and commentaries over their chances are far more established and loud this time around. Why? They were favourites and had the team to win the World Cup in those tournaments, but why they are considered as a serious contender in everyone’s eyes? Well, the answer lies in one of the most important phenomena of the game: Form. India, this time, are a bunch of batsmen in mid of astonishing purple patch and coming on the back of achieving remarkable results in the format. Their batsmen are confident as ever they have been in their career while their bowling attack exudes both experience and variety to surprise the batsmen. Strengths Indomitable top order The skipper Virat Kohli had shown willingness to open the innings with Rohit Sharma in the home series against England, but has dropped the plan once again for the form factor. KL Rahul has been in menacing touch with the bat and he is batting with supreme confidence and audacity, showing no real weakness against any sort of bowling, and Kohli has realised overlooking his form can be costly to India’s chances. Rahul has shown proactiveness to launch attacks on opposition bowling attacks from the word go in the company of the other two batsmen such as the duo of Kohli and Rohit has been the world-beaters in the white-ball formats. Rahul, it appears, has been told clearly by the management to throw all his intent against the new ball and leave all the worries of batting collapses or pitch conditions to the senior pros. For the senior pros, if they needed one stage to bring all their might together to produce something remarkable for the country, the stage does not get bigger than this. For all their prowess, they have missed as many as three chances of winning global tournaments after running as hot favourites. And they would be desperate for a global title to establish their legacy and stamp their authority in the history of Indian cricket. Stronger and reliable middle, lower-order If one aspect of India’s game was exposed in all three last failures in ICC knockouts, it was the over-reliance on the top order. Both in the Champions Trophy final in 2017 against Pakistan, and the 2019 ODI World Cup semi-final against New Zealand, they were cut down to size after their top order floundered. The India of this tournament have that area of concern covered as well, at least on paper. No one can guarantee performances but having the trio of an ever so dependable Suryakumar Yadav, flamboyant Rishabh Pant and one or both Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja, whose stature as a batsman are on sky-high only speaks of the course correction India have done to challenge other sides. Although India are still top-heavy with their best and most reputed batsmen bat at the top of the order, they are not walkover by any sort of imagination in the middle order as well. That will give the top order more freedom to go for the glory from the word go and could potentially be the difference maker for them in the tournament. Variety in the bowling attack They have the indispensable yorkers of Jasprit Bumrah while also having the pace, bounce and ability to extract whatever the pitch will offer in the hands of Mohammed Shami. The presence of Bhuvneshwar Kumar adds the swing quotient to the pace attack and while he has not been at his best, there is no guarantee a great player such as him will struggle forever to find his feet once again. Even if he finds it tough, the duo of Shami and Bumrah, if they produce their best, will suffice the need for pace bowling for Virat Kohli. In the spin department, they have taken some bold calls and the inclusion of Rahul Chahar, for his natural pace of delivery and ability to rip the ball off the surface is certainly one of them. They have also included Ravichandran Ashwin to counter the left hander-heavy batting order of opponents and there will be a toss-up between him and Chahar based on conditions and opponents in terms of having a place in the side. However, the biggest trump card of them all will be Varun Chakaravarthy, who has finally come onto the scene for India leaving behind all the doubts and misfortunes with respect to injuries. His variations have been lethal in IPL and there is no certainty that international sides will handle him better than the IPL sides and he will certainly be the go-to man for Kohli, especially against the hard-hitters of the oppositions. He is likely to play most of the games and Kohli will rely on his fingers to do the dual job of picking crucial wickets and holding the fort in the face of counterattacks from the one end. All in all, Virat Kohli’s men have all the bases covered and rightly deserves the title of firm favourites to win the title after a long gap of 14 years. But, does that mean they are devoid of any shortcomings and points to ponder? Certainly not. Challenges Uncertainty around Hardik Pandya Hardik Pandya would have been the first name on India’s playing XI sheet if he would have been fit to bowl and could offer at least two-three overs to Kohli, but his back injury has derailed both his ambitions and India’s equations in the World Cup. He is a good enough batter to bat in India’s top six and has the confidence of India’s team management as well with him playing the ODI series against Australia as a specialist batsman. However, his case is weakened on that point as well as he has gone horrible out of touch in the last few months and his struggle with the bat that started in the T20 series against England lingered on till the warm-up games of the World Cup. India have a tough call to take on either choosing to see the firepower he could offer in the lower middle order sandwiched between Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja and overlooking the limitations of playing with just five bowling options or overlooking his potential and what he brings to the table while giving values to what he is up to and what he could not deliver in the tournament. Going for either case will be a huge call for the team management and there may well be buyer’s remorse in whatever they decide with respect to the Hardik Pandya question. Kohli-Rohit and the intent question Virat Kohli has been famous for igniting the debate around strike rate and “intent” in Test cricket and ironically, it’s the T20 format where he struggles with the adoption of that approach. He tried to tweak that part of his game by coming at the top of the order against England and continued in the IPL. However, the struggle began with the bat once balls went softer and bowlers started changing pace after powerplay, his misery was well exposed in the second leg of the IPL. Rohit has a different cause of concern as he was on and off with the bat for the Mumbai Indians and like all the batsmen searching fluency in the format, he too went back to his old method of spending time at the crease before attempting to go for the big shot. The move did not work well for him in the IPL but it worked in the warm-up game against Australia. However, he doesn’t have to look beyond the recent struggles of Virat Kohli to convince himself that waiting for the end phase of the game to be big is not a risk worth taking in today’s age of T20 cricket. The long handle will matter India put on 192 runs on the board in that semi-final against West Indies at the loss of just two wickets but failed to hit only four sixes compared to 11 sixes hit by the Windies batsmen. Windies were lucky to get bits of help from no balls but the ease with which they chased down the target established that at the end hitting more boundaries does matter. The idea was further cemented a few days later when Karlos Brathwaite’s four consecutive sixes off the final over made the difference between England and the West Indies on the night of the final. West Indies had hit a six every 16.3 balls against the average of a six every 22.5 balls by the other top seven teams in the tournament and rightly so, they were the outliers and the champions of the tournament. Since that World Cup, India have corrected their ways and have been hitting a six per 17.4 balls but they are still far behind the outliers Windies who hit one out of the ground every 13.5 deliveries. The average number of balls taken to hit a six in the T20 format has also gone down considerably lower from 28 balls per six in the year 2009 to 20 in the year 2018, and Kohli and company will have to realise the need to go for the glory shots leaving behind the fear of getting out. Recent form Apart from the loss in the last series against Sri Lanka where India were trying their next-gen. players, India have been ruthless and dominant in the format, winning eight series on the trot. When they were near the full strength in Australia and at home against England, they won both the series to come in the tournament with confidence and a good record to show in the format. They also have had phenomenal success in the format since their departure from the semi-final of the 2016 world cup as they have won 45 games out of 72 games in the period. Probable XI KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (C), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant(WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, Shardul Thakur, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami