Okay, this is the big one, India versus Pakistan, in a World T20 Cup played in India, and the pressure is completely on India, following the humiliating loss to New Zealand in their opening match. A loss here could well put the hosts out of the World T20 2016 even before they have had the chance to get their feet wet.
What makes this match all the more important is that the political relations between India and Pakistan have reached a new low in recent months following terrorist attacks on Indian soil, allegedly carried out by forces supported by the Pakistan Army. Because of this the only time India does play Pakistan is in a multilateral tournament such as this. India has not played Pakistan in a bilateral series for a long, long time.
Clearly, March 19 is going to be a big day in India. It can be a day of celebration, or a day of national mourning. Depending on the outcome of the match, the cricketers will either be treated as demigods or national pariahs.
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One can imagine the sort of pressure the likes of Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Ravichandran Ashwin are in. At IndiaBet.org, we are proud supporters of the Indian team, and we are feeling the pressure ourselves, as are 1.3 billion people in India. What a day March 19 promises to be!
Now, about the cricket – India and Pakistan played only a couple of weeks back in the Asia Cup in Bangladesh. That match was won by India, but Pakistan put up a great fight. Mohammad Amir, making his comeback was the standout performer. If not for Virat Kohli’s brilliant knock of 48, India would have lost that match.
Pakistan have all the bowling fire power in the world. And their batting has improved a great deal as well. Indian batting, as we saw in the match against New Zealand, is hot one day and cold the next. There’s no consistency at all. It’s very easy for a quality bowling side to run through the much vaunted Indian batting lineup
Pakistan have no pressure at all in this match – they have everything to win and while India have everything to lose. We expect the Pakistanis to play their hearts out tomorrow. They have the right blend of youth and experience and will be eager to please their supporters back home who have been completely starved of international cricket.
Can Dhoni’s boys win this match for India? It’s hard to say. For India to win, they need to play perfect cricket tomorrow and hope that luck goes in their favor, especially during the crucial moments in the match. India will want their top order of Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli to perform.
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They will want Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni to rekindle some of the form that made them such fearsome players in limited overs cricket only a few years ago. Yes, they will want their bowling attack to take wickets at regular intervals and not to leak runs. Is that too much to ask? Time will tell.
About the team news, we expect Mohammad Shami to come in place of Ashish Nehra, who looks tired and exhausted. Pawan Negi may come in place of Hardik Pandya. Pakistan are expected to play the same team that won their first match.
The Teams
India: 1 Shikhar Dhawan 2 Rohit Sharma 3 Virat Kohli 4 Suresh Raina 5 Yuvraj Singh 6 Hardik Pandya 7 MS Dhoni (capt &wk), 8 Ravindra Jadeja 9 R Ashwin 10 Ashish Nehra 11 Jasprit Bumrah
Pakistan: 1 Sharjeel Khan 2 Ahmed Shehzad 3 Mohammad Hafeez, 4 Umar Akmal 5 Shoaib Malik 6 Shahid Afridi(capt) 7 Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk) 8 Imad Wasim 9 Wahab Riaz 10 Mohammad Amir 11 Mohammad Irfan
Match Conditions
We expect the Kolkata pitch to offer a lot of turn for spinners, it’s likely to be a raging turner. Indians are surprisingly uncomfortable playing on such tracks, as we found out in the New Zealand game. The weather looks fine.
Watch India take on Pakistan in the World T20 2016 tomorrow at 7:30 pm live on Star Sports!
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