ICC World T20 Match Preview : India vs Pakistan

India vs Pakistan Live streaming : Under-pressure India face confident Pakistan

Afridi and DhoniMahendra Singh Dhoni's India will be looking to bounce back from their shock opening defeat when they take on a resurgent Pakistan in Saturday's World Twenty20 blockbuster in Kolkata.

Red-hot favourites India were stunned by an unfancied New Zealand on Tuesday when they were shot out for 79 in Nagpur -- their lowest score on home turf in T20 internationals.

But India's limited-overs skipper has full faith in his side that came into the tournament on the back of 10 wins in 11 T20 matches, including victory in the Asia Cup.

"What's important is how to turn around and how to come back strong and I think this team has done this plenty of times," Dhoni said after the New Zealand loss.

After their stumbles in Nagpur, India's frontline batsmen Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli will have to find their feet against a hostile Pakistan pace attack which includes the in-form Mohammad Amir.

The Pakistani paceman, on the comeback trail after serving a prison sentence and a five-year ban for spot-fixing, ended with impressive figures of 2-27 in his team's victorious opener against Bangladesh.
Although India registered a commanding victory over Pakistan in last month's Asia Cup, their batsmen were far from comfortable against Amir, with Kohli congratulating him for "an amazing" spell of bowling.

While the pitch in Nagpur turned dramatically, Eden Gardens is seen as offering more bounce and Dhoni could well be tempted to play a fit-again Mohammed Shami on what is be the speedster's home ground.

Pakistan had come into the tournament in woeful form and their preparations were not helped by a row over security which led to the match being switched from Dharamsala to Kolkata.

But their trouncing of Bangladesh has banished the gloom, with skipper Shahid Afridi leading from the front by spanking a 19-ball 49 and then bagging two key wickets in the 55-run win.
Afridi said the result was a "morale booster" ahead of the clash between the South Asian titans who are both former World T20 champions.

But he downplayed the significance of India's opening match upset.

"They have been playing good cricket though they lost their last game," said Afridi.

Teams

India (from): Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Shikhar Dhawan, Harbhajan Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Mohammed Shami, Pawan Negi, Ashish Nehra, Hardik Pandya, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh

Pakistan (from): Shahid Afridi (captain), Anwar Ali, Imad Wasim, Khalid Latif, Khurram Manzoor, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Sami, Sarfraz Ahmed, Shoaib Malik, Sharjeel Khan, Umar Akmal, Wahab Riaz

Never Felt Threatened in Kolkata, Says Javed Miandad Ahead of India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup Derby

Sunil Gavaskar and Javed Miandad said that politics should be kept out of India-Pakistan cricket matches.

Pakistan will search for their first win against India in an ICC World Cup event when the arch-rivals clash in a T20 World Cup match at Kolkata's Eden Gardens on Saturday. Both India and Pakistan have won the T20 World Cup once before but no team has ever won at home.

Former Test batsman and NDTV expert Sunil Gavaskar has made Pakistan "slightly favourites" in the blockbuster clash after the Green Shirts smashed Bangladesh by 55 runs in their opening game. World No. 1 India, led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, lost a low-scoring contest by 47 runs against New Zealand in Nagpur to add more pressure on themselves.

Off the pitch, Afridi's 'India Love' comment generated a lot of controversy. Former Pakistan skipper Javed Miandad slammed Afridi for his pro-Indian comment. Miandad has been Pakistan's warrior prince and no one knows it better than Gavaskar.

It will be Gavaskar versus Miandad in NDTV's special show, anchored by Vikram Chandra. Here are the highlights:
# It is the government's responsibility to give security to players. As Pakistanis we have felt this before but once we land up, there is no security threat. Kolkata has only sports loving people. They are passionate. Sports should not be a war and the world makes fun of us: Javed Miandad
# India didn't play their last match well. Pakistan did: Miandad
# Amir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan have given India a good name. Can there be more love for you than your motherland? Miandad on Afridi's 'India Love' comment
# What has happened in India in two days that Afridi has said this? Asks Miandad
# Both sides of the border people love cricketers irrespective of teams. Indian love Wasim and Imran; Pakistanis love Virat and Raina. I loved to watch Hanif Mohammad bat. I bunked school to watch him bat: Sunil Gavaskar
# If you really ask the players, there is intensity on the field but off the field, they are friends. I had great friendship with Zaheer (Abbas) and Miandad. We were great friends: Gavaskar
# Pakistan team surely learnt from the past. We have a very good team, very good bowling attack. Afridi has to bat up in the order. He must get maximum overs. He can be a terror: Miandad
# Pakistan will give India tit-for-tat. World Cup is still open: Miandad
# Pakistan team surely learnt from the past. We have a very good team, very good bowling attack. Afridi has to bat up in the order. He must get maximum overs. He can be a terror: Miandad
# Nagpur wicket was unplayable. Anything can happen in a T20 game: Miandad
# If a team scores 180-200, then this game will be a cracker and the pressure will be on India: Gavaskar
# T20 is a game of skills. Shots like reverse sweep and Dilscoop need expertise: Gavaskar
# One man who stood up to the fearsome West Indian pacers was Gavaskar. He is the greatest Indian batsman ever: Miandad
# Right now, political relationship between India and Pakistan are on the mend: Babul Supriyo, Union minister
# In terms of music and in terms of cricket, India and Pakistan should play each other. It eases tension: Babul Supriyo
# Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif saab should walk that extra mile to normalise cricketing ties: Babul Supriyo
# Please keep politics separate from cricket: Miandad
# Even in husband-wife relationship there are disagreements. Shiv Sena's opposition to Ghulam Ali is something like that: Babul Supriyo
# Just hope that it turns out to be a cracker of a game. Just want to wish both teams good luck. Play in the right spirit and give joy to the followers: Gavaskar
# The India versus Pakistan match will have a positive effect. One of the best games of the tournament more than anything else. Kohli complimented Amir when he was bowling well in Asia Cup. They appreciate each other's talents and that needs to be highlighted: Gavaskar
# Sachin Tendulkar, now an MP, can help resume India vs Pakistan cricket ties. May be Sourav Ganguly can help in this, too. I am in the mandatory overs of my life: Gavaskar
# Politics is not in the hands of cricketers. As sportspersons, we don't know what goes on behind the scenes in diplomacy: Gavaskar

Pakistan out to shatter India's knockout plans in Ind vs Pak wt20 match

India, Pakistan and Eden Gardens. The stage is set for a cracker of a contest. India's ICC World T20 campaign began on a terrible note, with their batsmen plummeting to New Zealand's spin-trio of Adam Santner, Ish Sodhi and Nathan McCullum. While the team was left zapped following their collapse, Pakistan on the other hand dished out a severe punishment to Bangladesh, extracting sweet revenge for their Asia Cup loss a couple of weeks back riding on Shahid Afridi's all-round show.

The format is such that a side needs to win three out of four matches to qualify for the knockouts. 

Hence, a loss for India will severely dent their chances of progressing. In their previous meeting, India bowled Pakistan out for their third-lowest T20 total before Mohammad Amir produced a splendid exhibition of fast bowling in a losing cause. But the numbers at Eden Gardens back Pakistan. Both teams will square off against each other at Eden Gardens for first time in a T20I, but, in their four previous meetings - all ODIs - India have failed to record a victory.

But it's an ICC event, a World Cup at that too. An event where Pakistan are yet to get the better of their Asian neighbours. Gear up people, Saturday has all the makings of a classic, the age-old theory of Indian batsmen being pitted against quality Pakistan bowling.

Venue: Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Date:

March 19, 2016

Time:

19:30 IST

Weather:

Warm, with temperature hovering between 24-28 degree Celsius

Team talk:Only three Indian players came to practice on Wednesday before the whole lot turned up after MS Dhoni's press conference a day before the match. Suresh Raina's form is a concern. He hasn't played an innings of significance since the unbeaten 49 against Australia in the third T20 in Sydney. Raina practiced the short ball considerably well in the nets but keeping how all the batsmen endured a tough time in Nagpur, he seems likely to keep his place.

India: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Suresh Raina, 5 Yuvraj Singh, 6 MS Dhoni (capt/wk), 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Ravindra Jadeja, 9 R Ashwin, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Ashish Nehra

No reasons to change a combination that was dominating in their win against Bangladesh. Pakistan's batting, having misfired frequently in recent matches, finally came together, and half-centuries from Ahmed Shehzad and Shahid Afridi's 19-ball 49 took them to only their second 200-plus total in T20. With the ball, the three-way pace attack should be unchanged to give India a hard time.

Pakistan: 1 Sharjeel Khan, 2 Ahmed Shehzad, 3 Mohammad Hafeez, 4 Shahid Afridi (capt), 5 Umar Akmal, 6 Shoaib Malik, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 8 Imad Wasim, 9 Wahab Riaz, 10 Mohammad Amir, 11 Mohammad Amir

Quote unquote:

"India-Pakistan rivalry is probably bigger than the Ashes. We're probably more dangerous now than we were in the beginning of the tournament," India offspinner R Ashwin feels the poor performance against New Zealand was a one-off affair.

"History can change. We have a pace attack that can change the match in one spell or even one over. Kolkata has been a very lucky venue," Pakistan coach Waqar Younis feels Pakistan can produce their first win against India in a World Cup.

T20I record in 2016

India

P 12 W 10 L 2

Pakistan

P 8 W 4 L 4

Key stats:

- Pakistan have a 5-1 record against India in international matches at Eden Gardens. However, they are yet to beat India in a World Cup game.

- Afridi is the leading wicket-taker in T20I and is five wickets away from completing 100 wickets.

- Mohammad Hafeez (151) and Yuvraj Singh (131) are the leading run-getters for their respective sides against each other.

Ground conditions:

The same pitch was used for two matches. So it is highly unlikely that the India-Pakistan match will be played on it. According to groundsmen, the basic character of the Eden pitch will remain more or less the same, which means both teams can expect a slow turner with even bounce. Also, with Pakistan having played all their matches in Kolkata so far, expect them to be better equipped to conditions.

Kohli reminds me of Tendulkar: Steve Waugh

Former Australia captain Steve Waugh said on Thursday that he is reminded of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar whenever he watches star India batsman Virat Kohli in action.

"The greatest T20 batsman right now is Virat Kohli. He has an average of over 50 and an amazing strike rate. I see a bit of Tendulkar in him everytime he walks in to bat," Waugh told Sports Today.

India have been placed in a difficult group along with arch-rivals Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand and Bangladesh at the ongoing World Twenty20 and Waugh felt that Kohli will be key if the hosts were to win the trophy for a record second time.

"If India have to win this World T20, Kohli will have to score a lot of runs," he said.

Waugh said Kohli's aggression put him at par with a lot of good Australian cricketers.

"Kohli is a lot like an Australian player. He loves playing against Australia and loves the aggressive Australian crowds. Kohli is the ultimate cricketer but the only question for him is if he can keep his cool under pressure," the 50-year-old said.

India suffered a jolt at the very start of their World T20 campaign as they lost to New Zealand by 47 runs in the tournament opener on Tuesday. The Super 10 Group 2 match in Nagpur saw both sets of batsmen struggle on a turning pitch.

The Indian batsmen, renowned for their ability to play the turning ball, showed poor application and shot selection with nine of them falling to the Kiwi spinners -- a T20 record.

Waugh however, felt that the Indians will be able to recover from the shock and go on to do well in the rest of the tournament.

"If you ask Indian players if they mind playing playing on a turning, they would not mind, because they are used to that. I don't think that is an excuse. Maybe they were caught out by the quality of the New Zealand bowling the other night. Maybe they were a little complacent. Having said that, they have not beaten New Zealand in a T20 game," Waugh said.

"Maybe it was one of those days where everything goes awry, nothing goes right. They need to move on and focus on the next game," he added.