(Cricket news) India Vs Pakistan has been the most fierce rivalry in cricketing history. Ignited by political reasons and war history there are fireworks every time these two teams meet. Due to these same non-cricketing reasons, it has been over 7 years since the two teams played a bilateral series. Therefore in tournaments like these is the only way fans get to witness this historical fixture.
India come into the game having won both their warm-up games, against England by 7 wickets and against Australia by 8 wickets. Pakistan on the other hand won their first one against defending champions West Indies by 7 wickets but then lost the second against South Africa by 6 wickets. The game might well come down to a battle between the two captains Virat Kohli and Babar Azam.
India squad:
Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami.
India's line-up looks pretty much set with only a few questions needed to be answered. There have been reports that Varun Chakravarty will not play in every game and may be used as a trump card to manage his injury. Pakistan is the one team that has no players who would've faced Chakravarty which may mean that he will play the match. It is almost certain that Hardik Pandya will not bowl in this game at least after vice captain Rohit Sharma said that he hadn't started bowling during the 2nd warm-up match.
Also read: How does Hardik Pandya fit into India's T20 World Cup side?
Pakistan squad:
Babar Azam, Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shoaib Malik.
The no. 2 and no. 7 ranked ICC T20 batsman Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan will be opening the batting. Either of them will have to play a big innings for Pakistan. Shaheen Afridi will be a very crucial bowler with a lot of responsibility to get rid of India's big guns.
Pakistan has never won a World Cup match against India. Even though India are heavy favourites this time around, if Pakistan manage to win the game then it will be invaluable for their team. It will not just boost their confidence going ahead it will also be a massive hurdle for India to overcome.
