The El Clasico of the cricket world is finally here as the Indian cricket team will go one-on-one against the Pakistan cricket team in the 19th match of the ongoing 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
The much-hyped battle between the two arch-rivals is all set to be played at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York on Sunday from 8:00 PM onwards.
Both sides form a part of Group A alongside the United States, Canada, and Ireland and are coming into the encounter following contrasting starts. India would be filled with confidence as the Men in Blue are doing well in the league round with both their batters and bowlers looking in good rhythm.
However, the Pakistan cricket team would be under pressure to do well as they have struggled with the bat in the league so far and another loss can hamper their chances of making it to the Super 8 round of the tournament.
What has happened so far?
India kick-started their campaign in the T20 World Cup with a 60-run victory in the warm-up game against the Bangladesh team. It was an all-round performance by the Men in Blue as they smacked 182 runs in the allotted 20 overs and then defended the total by restricting the Tigers to 122 runs.
Rohit Sharma’s side continued their dominance in the league round by hammering Ireland in their first league match by eight wickets. The bowling unit came up with a stunning performance as Ireland collapsed at 96 runs in the first innings. Following the brilliant performances by Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah, the captain showcased his mettle with a fifty.
Speaking of the Pakistan team, Babar Azam’s men toured England before the start of the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup and even skipped the warm-up matches to facilitate the series against England who defeated Pakistan 2-0 in the four-match series with two matches getting washed out.
In their first league match of the ICC T20 World Cup, the Shaheens were up against the USA and the Green Army lost the Super Over in a surprising turn of events. Both the teams scored exactly 159 runs in their allotted 20 overs while the Super Over saw the USA comfortably chasing 19 runs.
Head to Head Record
There has been no better rivalry than that of India vs Pakistan in modern-day cricket and over the years, the two teams have served the cricket fans with some of the finest battles. The Indian team has locked horns with the Green Army in a total of 12 matches in the shortest format of the game.
They dominate the head-to-head records with nine wins while Pakistan is lagging behind with just three victories.
Key Players
Shaheen Afridi (Pakistan): All the eyes will be on Shaheen Afridi as Pakistan will aim to open its account in the ongoing 2024 edition of the ICC T20 World Cup by defeating the favourite India.
The 24-year-old failed to make any impact during the team’s first encounter against the USA, as while defending 160 runs in the allotted 20 overs, he conceded 33 runs without picking any wickets.
Having said that, Shaheen boasts of an excellent record against the Indian batting line-up especially the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Thus, the bowler can have a mental edge over the opponents on Sunday and will be one of the most important players for the Green Army.
Hardik Pandya has a stellar record both with the bat and ball against Pakistan
Hardik Pandya (India): The past few months have been extremely tough for Hardik Pandya as he was subjected to a lot of scrutiny by cricket fans for leading Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League 2024.
Adding to the misery, the ace all-rounder failed to deliver an impressive performance throughout the tournament. However, leaving the horrors of IPL behind, Hardik has finally picked up the form.
The 30-year-old ended up as an x-factor for India when they defeated Ireland by eight wickets in their first league game. In his four overs, Pandya picked three wickets at an impressive economy rate of 6.8. He did well during the warm-up game as well, with a knock of 40 runs off just 23 balls including two boundaries and four maximums.
Predicted XIs
India: Rohit Sharma ©, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj
Pakistan: Babar Azam ©, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Usman Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Amir, Haris Rauf
Prediction
The Indian cricket team seems to have adapted well to the USA’s playing conditions as they are unbeatable in the league so far. Following their victory over Bangladesh, the team defeated Ireland in the first league round by eight wickets.
Therefore, Rohit Sharma’s men are expected to be in great rhythm on Sunday and will enter the much-anticipated clash as favorites. Speaking of Pakistan, they haven’t had much luck in the tournament so far and need to put in a lot of effort to score a victory on Sunday.