While the rain is threatening to play bad games, it is unlikely to wash out completely, according to people with knowledge of the weather conditions here.
Thousands of fans from both countries have circled the world to see their team in action and rely on rival captains Rohit Sharma and Babar Azam to tell you that it is another ‘match’ for them all but 22 players and reserves know it’s ‘the’. match’.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, under whose leadership India never lost to Pakistan in ICC events, used to repeat himself time and again that the word ‘revenge’ has no place in the cricket field.
But a lot has changed in the last one year as Shaheen Shah Afridi led the Pakistan team to their first World Cup win in the opening round.
It was not just a match won or broken spell, but 3/31 by Shaheen also managed to break the ego of some of the biggest batting legends of the contemporary cricket world.
While Rohit, Virat Kohli or KL Rahul are not the ones to easily forget last year’s humiliation in Dubai, the fact is that India as a team has been looking a little less ripe in recent times.
And at least on Sunday, “Men in Blue” won’t start as a favorite in “Mother of All Clash.”
The BCCI’s statement that India will not travel to Pakistan to play the Asia Cup followed by the PCB’s threat to pull out of the 50-over World Cup in India has made the atmosphere more politically charged and vicious.
India will have no problem going into a match as the underdog and it will be Pakistan who will have to live up to the high expectations.
Combination still a matter of concern for India
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This has been a trend with the Indian team for quite some time now – not to be a systematic combination. In 2019, they still didn’t have number four after meeting for two years.
And now, a year after the last T20 World Cup, India may have to drop a specialist left-handed batsman (Rishabh Pant) out of the top five to accommodate an extra bowler.
The uniformity in the batting order is a bit worrying as it could throw a line each in the absence of Shaheen, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf Pant, who have also been out of form.
How India’s top three handle Shaheen in the powerplay will decide how the match will turn out.
One person, who might perhaps face Shaheen, is India’s current No. 1 batsman Suryakumar Yadav, who is someone who never changes his game irrespective of circumstances or circumstances.
But in wet conditions, Rohit would pray that luck would shine on him and he would win the toss and might opt to chase down when his bowling line-up looks a bit poor.
While India have three spinners in the line-up, only one can play in the end if incessant rains and a sharp drop in temperature make the conditions seam-friendly.
In that case, out-of-form Harshal Patel, with good batting skills, can be back in the scheme of things.
But with three left-handed batsmen – Shan Masood/Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Nawaz and Khushdil Shah, a bowler who can pull it off will always be in the mix. So Ravichandran Ashwin can never be completely out of the equation.
Last time, the strategy of promoting Nawaz as a pinch hitter in the Asia Cup Super 4 literally stumped India, but he must have done better homework this time so that he doesn’t get caught off-guard.
The only thing holding Pakistan a bit ahead on Sunday is Shaheen, who is slowly getting closer to his best.
37 years later at MCG
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After almost 37 and a half years, the India vs Pakistan match is to be held at the MCG. The Benson & Hedges World Championship of Cricket final took place for the first time since 1985.
This was Sunil Gavaskar’s last match as India captain and back home in India, fans saw Ravi Shastri taking a gleaming Audi for a spin around the MCG.
There were barely 30,000 fans that day and an objectionable poster in the stands by locals that day read, “World Cup Final: Tram Conductors vs Bus Drivers,” basically downplaying the social status of the two South Asian neighbours.
At that time no one would have imagined that the India vs Pakistan match would become a major commercial vehicle in multi-team events. It’s not just another match, it’s ‘The Match’.
Squad:
India: Rohit Sharma (capt), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel and Deepak Hooda.
Pakistan: Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Shan Masood, Mohammad Nawaz, Khushdil Shah, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Wasim, Shadab Khan , Mohammad Hasnain.
Match starts: 1:30 PM IST.
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