Dubai, Oct 23: The most sought-after megastars of the current generation are primed to show their might against a bunch of enigmatic cricketers as India and Pakistan engage in an ICC T20 World Cup face-off, something that transcends the 22-yard strip.
The sensitive nature of cross-border relationship between the neighbours has led to minimal sporting engagements and cricket has always become the vehicle of one upmanship for the fans on both sides.
In terms of numbers, India have an all-win record against their arch-rivals in the T20 World Cup since its inception in 2007.
It could be Kohli, who would love to get over his mediocre run of form in a match that always carries a posterity value or Shaheen Shah Afridi could tail one into KL Rahul’s pads first up to set it up for Pakistan.
It could be Mohammed Rizwan, who might just launch into Mohammed Shami or it could be Suryakumar Yadav, who could play a reverse flick off Hasan Ali.
On Sunday, the Pakistanis will have a lot more to prove than their Indian counterparts. For the likes of Shah, Rizwan, Harris Rauf and their uber cool captain Babar, it will not just be about breaking a World Cup jinx against a world-class side.
It is also about how global cricket perceives Pakistan which saw two of the cricketing elites England and New Zealand close ranks and refuse to tour the country.
For India, their strength is a crack top-five that comprises Rohit, Rahul, Kohli, Suryakumar and Rishabh Pant against the likes of Afridi, Rauf, Hasan, Imad Wasim and Shadab Khan, who are going to form the core of their bowling attack.
The bowling department will depend on which side of the track they are playing as Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Shami and Varun Chakravarthy pick themselves.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s experience holds him in good stead and he has better variations than Shardul Thakur, who despite getting wickets, can go for runs.
If there’s an extra spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, with his great game awareness, could be more effective than Rahul Chahar.
For Pakistan, their main player is skipper Babar, an all-format superstar and someone who is destined to be one of the modern day greats.
He will require support from Shaheen with the new ball as Hasan and Rauf could go for runs against India.
Left-arm spinner Imad has had a great record in UAE for Pakistan. Similarly, Shoaib Malik and Mohammed Hafeez will be keen to settle scores with India.
India: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vc), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Shardul Thakur, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Chakravarthy, Rahul Chahar
Pakistan: Babar Azam (captain), Mohammed Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammed Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Harris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haider Ali.
Match starts at 7:30 pm IST. (PTI)
