T20 World Cup, India vs Pakistan preview: Men in Blue look to avenge last year's defeat in marquee clash at MCG

India and Pakistan face off in what promises to be one of the biggest cricketing events in recent years, with the two sides squaring off in front of a sold-out Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday.

This will be the first time the arch-rivals square off at the ‘G’ in World Cup history — having previously played at the Sydney Cricket Ground and Adelaide Oval in 1992 and 2015 respectively.

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There’s been as much drama on the field in the build-up to the highly-anticipated clash as off it. The two sides won one game each in their two encounters at the recent Asia Cup in the UAE, with the Pakistanis winning the more crucial Super Four clash and eventually progressing to the final at India’s expense.

As for the off-field drama, which is never short in supply in the Indo-Pak cricketing rivalry, the match takes place just a few days after the drama created by BCCI secretary Jay Shah’s comments on India not travelling to Pakistan for next year’s Asia Cup.

The Men in Green sure were charged up after New Zealand staged a last-minute pullout from a limited-overs tour in Pakistan just before last year’s T20 World Cup. Not only would they go on to beat the Black Caps, but they would also end their World Cup jinx against India with a historic 10-wicket thrashing in Dubai.

The Men in Blue sure will hope the row between the two boards, which has now gone political with ministers such as Anurag Thakur making comments on behalf of the Narendra Modi government, will not have had a similar effect on Pakistan this time around as they look to avenge last year’s defeat against their neighbours, and eventually end their nine-years of wait for an ICC trophy.

Bowling still an area of concern for Men in Blue

Team India did well to pull off a late fightback in their warm-up match against Australia in Brisbane after looking down and out at one stage of the home team’s chase.

Mohammed Shami’s performance in the final over of the Australian chase, his only over so far in the current trip to Australia, was no doubt the highlight of the day for India, especially in the absence of pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah who was ruled out of the tournament due to a back injury.

But for a majority of the chase, the Indians simply had no idea how to reign in Aussie skipper Aaron Finch as the hosts cruised towards the target. Left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh, who had otherwise been a great addition to the Indian team over the summer, bled 34 runs from three overs. And the bowling unit was taken to the cleaners in the powerplay overs by Finch and Mitch Marsh as Australia plundered 64 runs for the loss of just one wicket.

Given he is likely to be picked ahead of Harshal given his left-arm angle that adds to the team’s variety in the pace department, Arshdeep will hope to put his performance in the warm-up as well as a couple of expensive spells back home behind as he sets his sights on Babar Azam and Co, against whom he had produced a brave final over in the Asia Cup Super 4 clash that ultimately went in vain.

Read: India’s playing XI unclear with hours to go for Pakistan clash

Skipper Rohit Sharma, leading India for the first time in an ICC event, exuded confidence in the pre-match press conference ahead of the marquee clash.

“I don’t want you to use the word pressure but take it as a challenge. This Pakistan is very challenging, in fact, all of them. It’s all about ‘it’s your day’. They played well last World Cup and they won.

“Main favourites aur underdogs mein believe nahi karta hun. (I don’t believe in favourites and underdogs). Whenever we come into a big tournament, there is always a talk about it. I believe, we just need to play well and have a great mindset on that particular day,” said Rohit, who added that all 15 members of the India squad were available for selection.

Shaheen’s return a major boost for Pakistan

Pakistan, meanwhile, will be hoping to make it two-in-two against India in T20 World Cups despite a mixed build-up to the highly-anticipated clash, their hopes bolstered by key pace option Shaheen Shah Afridi’s successful return from a knee injury during the warm-up clashes.

After finishing runners-up in the Asia Cup, Pakistan suffered a 3-4 defeat in T20Is in their first home series against England in 17 years, a series where both the batting and bowling departments imploded inexplicably on several occasions, and the home team were comprehensively outplayed in the decider in Lahore. Pakistan would, however, maintain their status as title contenders in the T20 World Cup by winning a triangular T20I series in New Zealand also featuring Bangladesh.

While the Pakistani attack was bludgeoned by Harry Brook, Sam Curran and Ben Stokes in their six-wicket defeat against England in the warm-up round, it was Afridi’s performance against Afghanistan in their second practice game that would fill them with hope.

Read: IND-PAK clashes made lively by their bowling and our batting, says Rohit

Afridi, who had not played international cricket since the tour of Sri Lanka in July, was firing toe-crushing yorkers in a terrific powerplay spell against the Afghan Atalan that was reminiscent of his dismantling of the Indian top-order last year in Dubai. His spell of 2/4 in the powerplay will have served as a warning to the Men in Blue as well as to South Africa, Bangladesh and all the other teams in Group 2.

“We know how good Pakistan’s bowling is. And our batting is also experienced. The environment gets lively in that case. We have discussed how we need to bat and ball against them” Rohit said of the Pakistani attack on the eve of the third Indo-Pak clash of the year.

Weather a worry

Tickets for the India-Pakistan contest were sold out within minutes of going online earlier this year, further adding hype to the match between the two fierce rivals who don’t meet on the cricketing field beyond ICC and ACC events.

What comes as a worry for ticket-holders, as well as to the two teams involved and the organisers, is the rain threat that had been looming over the match this week. Rain had also forced the cancellation of a few warm-up matches, including the one between India and New Zealand in Brisbane.

Fortunately, the Sunday weather forecast for Melbourne appears to have improved according to the latest data available, with no further showers expected till Monday, which should translate to 40 overs of quality cricketing action that should make it a Sunday to remember.

Venue: Melbourne Cricket Ground

Time: 1.30 pm IST (7 pm local time).

Squads:

India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik(w), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Rishabh Pant, Yuzvendra Chahal, Deepak Hooda.

Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Shan Masood, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Asif Ali, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Fakhar Zaman.

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