By: Aditya Ahuja
India and Pakistan will today face off at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York. This Group A match holds greater significance for Pakistan as it will determine their fate in the tournament.
The ‘Men in Blue’ have already won their opening against Ireland and currently sit in second place. The United States tops the group with 4 points from 2 matches and a Net Run Rate (NRR) of +0.626.
Pakistan, on the contrary, finds itself languishing in fourth place among five teams. Their defeat to the US in a Super Over exposed their vulnerabilities, against a team that has been newly introduced to the world of cricket.
IND vs PAK T20Is: Head-to-Head
India and Pakistan have faced each other 12 times in T20I matches, with India winning 9 and Pakistan winning 3. In T20 World Cups, the two arch rivals have clashed 7 times, with Pakistan managing only one win. One of these encounters ended in a tie, with both teams scoring 141 runs in 20 overs during a 2007 match in Durban. India went on to defeat Pakistan in the final that year, clinching the inaugural T20 World Cup title.
The two sides form one of the most intense rivalries in sport and the temporary, 34,000-seat stadium in East Meadow, New York, will be bursting at the seams with millions more watching on TV.
India vs Pakistan probable playing XI
India – Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel/ Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj.
Pakistan – Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Usman Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan/ Saim Ayub, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Amir, Haris Rauf.
