New Delhi: Excitement among the cricketing world is at an all-time high as arch-rivals India and Pakistan gear up for the clash in their opening game of the ICC Men`s T20 World Cup 2021 in Dubai on Sunday.
Both teams will open their campaigns in the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup with what is billed to be a mouth-watering clash. After almost over two years, Virat Kohli and Co. will face-off against Babar Azam-led Pakistan and rekindle the age-old rivalry.
Pakistan is yet to get a one-up over India in World Cups as the head-to-head has been completely dominated by the Men in Blue. The stakes are at an all-time high with Kohli and Co looking to continue their dominance against Pakistan in ICC World Cups.
Both sides have a strong lineup and it will be about keeping calm and rising to the occasion when they set foot on the pitch on Sunday.
In a short while from now, Virat Kohli-led India will face Babar Azam’s Pakistan in a high-octane Group 2 clash in the Super 12 stage of the ICC Men`s T20 World Cup 2021 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
India last hosted Pakistan in a bilateral series in 2013 and the teams now meet only in global tournaments. The two teams last met in the group stages of the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup, with India convincingly defeating the old rivals to maintain their undefeated streak in World Cups.
The two arch-rivals have met each other five times at a T20 World Cup and ‘Men in Blue’ have won on all the occasions. However, a new day awaits for both the teams on October 24 and they will have an equal chance to win.
Both teams come into the match with decent practice under their belt, having played two warm-up matches each. Pakistan beat West Indies by seven wickets in their first match before losing to South Africa off the last ball in the second. India, the 2007 champions, on the other hand, won both their warm-up matches, beating England and Australia.
Both teams are full of talented T20 players who can single-handedly win games for their sides on any given day.
The likes of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, and Rishabh Pant will be India`s strength in batting while Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Md Shami, Shardul Thakur, and Varun Chakravarthy will pose a tough challenge to opposition batting.
For Pakistan, captain Babar Azam, wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan, and Mohammad Hafeez will be key in the batting while the likes of Shaheen Afridi, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, and Shadab Khan will look to trouble the Indian batters.
Here’s a look at Pakistan’s performance in the past few T20 matches
Unlike India, Pakistan haven’t played much cricket in the past. Three of their T20Is against the West Indies were abandoned. In the only match that took place in the series, they beat the hosts by 7 runs.
Before that, they had toured England, where they lost the final match of the 3-game series by 3 wickets.
Moreover, they were scheduled to play 5 T20Is against touring New Zealand in September but not a single ball was bowled as the Black Caps abandoned the tour, citing security reasons, hours before the first match.
While ‘Team India’ will come into the tournament on the back of a 1-2 series defeat in Sri Lanka. The BCCI sent a white-ball team, which did not include most of its regular members, to the neighbouring nation. After winning the first match of the bilateral series, SL won the next two matches.
Before that, they had beaten England 3-2 in a five-match showdown at the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad. Kohli’s side won the final two games of the series.
