IND vs PAK: India and Pakistan will go head-to-head for the ninth time in the history of the T20 World Cup
The mother of all battles is about to commence at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo between India and Pakistan. Both teams will look to put their best foot forward in an attempt to win the game and confirm their spot in the Super Eight stage of the tournament.
If we talk about the form of both sides leading into the game, both India and Pakistan are yet to lose a game, having won the first two matches that they have played, respectively.
India got the better of the USA in their opening match, followed by a convincing win over Namibia. Pakistan, on the other hand, won a close game against the Netherlands to begin the tournament and registered a clinical win against the USA.
IND vs PAK: Captains’ Opinion
Pakistan’s captain, Salman Ali Agha, said that they will bowl first, having won the toss. Salman was of the opinion that the wicket is a bit tacky and they would like to make the first use of it. When asked about the changes, if any, in Pakistan’s playing XI for the much-anticipated game, Salman said that they are going with an unchanged team.
Suryakumar Yadav, the captain of India, said that they would have batted first anyway, as they have defended well in the first two matches and don’t want to change that. Suryakumar was also of the opinion that although it is a big game but it is important to stay in the present and back your skills. Suryakumar confirmed the inclusion of Abhishek Sharma and Kuldeep Yadav in the playing XI.
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IND vs PAK: Playing XI
India: Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah
Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Agha (c), Babar Azam, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Usman Khan (wk), Shaheen Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Usman Tariq
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IND vs PAK: Pitch Report
The pitch at the R. Premadasa Stadium is expected to be the same in nature as it was during the AUS vs ZIM game, which saw Zimbabwe clinch a historic win by defending a score of 169 runs. Meaning that slow bowlers will play a vital role in the game. Pacers can use slower balls and cutters to extract maximum purchase out of the wicket, whereas spinners can vary their pace to outfox the batters.
As far as the approach of the batters on such a kind of surface is concern they should play in a traditional manner against the new ball in the first six overs in order to get used to the pace and bounce of the surface.
