Which side will win the iconic India versus Pakistan clash on 23 October in the ICC T20 World Cup?

[Suleiman]

Lot of times it will start as underdogs and finish on a high note. This time they will start as underdogs and finish as underdogs. I don't see a path for India to make it past first round. It will required opposition making some serious mistakes like dropping dollies, misfielding.

Well my friend, do I have some news for you

 

[Coolcapri]

Its Indian Batting vs Pak Bowling, If Pak bowlers can take early wickets and restrict Indian batting to a Par score than its Pak game.

1st 6 overs for both innings will be crucial.

 

[Coolcapri]

Weather forecast not good.

 

[Champ_Pal]

This time India will smash Pakistan.

Pakistan is truely a 2 man team. Get them before 7 overs and they will struggle to score 120.

Play out Shaheen carefully and target the likes of Wasim's, Shadabs and Nawaz's.

 

[Champ_Pal]

Its Indian Batting vs Pak Bowling, If Pak bowlers can take early wickets and restrict Indian batting to a Par score than its Pak game.

1st 6 overs for both innings will be crucial.

India is not just Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. They have other players too who can proper India to a score of 170.

 

[Coolcapri]

India is not just Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. They have other players too who can proper India to a score of 170.

Yes that's why i said its Pak bowling vs India batting, If Pak can restrict Indian line up to 160-170 than they will be happy to chase it.

 

[Coolcapri]

This time India will smash Pakistan.

Pakistan is truely a 2 man team. Get them before 7 overs and they will struggle to score 120.

Play out Shaheen carefully and target the likes of Wasim's, Shadabs and Nawaz's.

Well you guys said the same in last year worldcup and remember what happened.

 

[Champ_Pal]

Well you guys said the same in last year worldcup and remember what happened.

Anything can happen, but India is a better team.

Pak bowling is in form. But Shaheen is coming back from injury and that leaves only Rauf who is a threat. The rest are okayish kind of bowlers.

India have to make sure they are 45/0 in 6 overs and they will win the match.

 

[Coolcapri]

Anything can happen, but India is a better team.

Pak bowling is in form. But Shaheen is coming back from injury and that leaves only Rauf who is a threat. The rest are okayish kind of bowlers.

India have to make sure they are 45/0 in 6 overs and they will win the match.

I will not say India is a better team than Pak, They do have better batting line up but Pak bowling is much superior. You are thinking about Shaheen and Rauf, But don't forget Naseem.

Also if there isn't much swing i think Indian seamer will struggle and Pak can target them.

 

[Kriketer]

I hope Pakistani middle order show up and at least try to win.

Our bowling should be strengthened if Shaheen is healthy.

Insha'Allah Pakistan will deliver an epic phainta to India!

Epic phainta to India will definitely be great. It's amazing how a cricket win puts majority of their millions and gazillions of online trolls plus absolute bias hateful media in their rightful place (under a stinkn rock for hiding for a good long while).

 

[MenInG]

Babar on the upcoming match against India:

"When you play against India, it is always one which is played with a high intensity, fans also wait for these games; On the field we really enjoy such games and try to play good cricket on the day and also give our 100%"

 

[MenInG]

Question to Rohit and BA - when you meet in an informal gathering such as this - what do you talk about?

Babar Azam:

"We never talk about cricket - just have a general conversation, he [Rohit] is elder to me and has achieved so much so I try and get some advice from him"

Rohit Sharma:

"As Babar said, we understand the importance of our games but there is no point talking about it everytime and creating that pressure within yourself, so when we met in the Asia Cup and here we spoke about how our families were and this is the same when I have met with other team mates of Babar"

"All the players from our previous generations who have played such games always told us that even they would talk about family, life in general, what new car have they bought or about to buy"

 

[The lone Ranger]

Epic phainta to India will definitely be great. It's amazing how a cricket win puts majority of their millions and gazillions of online trolls plus absolute bias hateful media in their rightful place (under a stinkn rock for hiding for a good long while).

Then Imagine what would 12 WC wins have done? Crawling your way out after God knows how long it took to get that win in a meaningless format!. You're talking as if you and your media are Saint. It's trolls like you why people from both countries hate each other. Your team is in a better position now compared to India but don't know why so much arrogance!

 

[ezhil]

Mind says Pak win but heart wants India to win

 

[Rajdeep]

The only positive thing about matches in UAE is we never have to worry about rain and guaranteed a full game. Every other ICC events these days are getting affected due to rain delays - WTC Final, Ind vs Pak games in 2019 WC, 2016 WT20, 2017 CT, 2013 CT all marred due to poor weather.

According to BBC, there is 100% chance of rain on 23rd evening when this game starts. Next day is proper sunny though, I wish there was a back up day.

90 thousand tickets being sold for this clash and imagine it being a wash out.

 

[AAli98]

The only positive thing about matches in UAE is we never have to worry about rain and guaranteed a full game. Every other ICC events these days are getting affected due to rain delays - WTC Final, Ind vs Pak games in 2019 WC, 2016 WT20, 2017 CT, 2013 CT all marred due to poor weather.

According to BBC, there is 100% chance of rain on 23rd evening when this game starts. Next day is proper sunny though, I wish there was a back up day.

90 thousand tickets being sold for this clash and imagine it being a wash out.

Me & U could chase down 180 after winning the toss in UAE.. horrendous place to play cricket!!

 

[hamzie]

Rain

 

[hasanali]

Can't see Pakistan winning a shortened game. We simply don't have the batting firepower to win an eight or ten over contest.

A full match and it's a toss up. Anything could happen, especially since it's going to be overcast throughout and there will be swing for the bowlers.

 

[jnaveen1980]

If it gets washed out their other encounter matters more. Pakistan has an edge in the other encounter venuewise.

India vs SA - Perth
Pakistan vs SA - SCG

 

[Nikhil_cric]

If it gets washed out their other encounter matters more. Pakistan has an edge in the other encounter venuewise.

India vs SA - Perth
Pakistan vs SA - SCG

Advantage to team batting second at SCG and batting first at Perth

 

[Sarwar89]

In case of MCG Wash out 23rd Oct Ind v Pak, NRR will be key

Net Run Rate will carry huge significance in case of India v Pak washed out game ( very likely ) on Oct 23rd.

Pakistan’s game v West indies & Proteas will be must win.

If South Africa defeats India at Perth ( pitch might suit proteas)

It is very likely Group will finish like this however there is also a possibility of Pak & Ind finishing on 7 points each.

Likely scenario

RSA 8 points ( 4 wins & 1 loss v pak )
Pakistan 9 points ( 4 wins & 1 no result v ind )
India 7 points ( 3 wins 1 loss v RSA & 1 NR)
West indies (4 points )
Others ( does not matter )

Unlikely scanario

RSA 8 points
Pak 7 points ( pak lose to windies )
Ind 7 points
Westindies 6 points
Bangladesh 2 points

In that scenario games against

Netherlands:namibia & bangladesh are going to be so much important.

Luckily there is no Afghanistan in our group, which meanz India can not bully them to concede defeat by 100+ runs to artificially boost their NRR.

 

[sweep_shot]

As of now, Pakistan are favorites.

Better bowling attack. Better batting too.

 

[Ab Fan]

As of now, Pakistan are favorites.

Better bowling attack. Better batting too.

Yes better fielding as well and better man management too.

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Yes, even if we count from CT'17 onwards:

CT'17 final - Pak
Asia Cup 2018 - India won twice
World Cup 2019 - India won
WT20 2021- Pak
Asia Cup 2022- 1-1

4-3 India are still ahead. If you count CT overall, then 5-3 India.

Still you guys think Pakistan are favorites?

 

[sweep_shot]

Yes better fielding as well and better man management too.

Pakistan have this attack - Shaheen, Naseem, Rauf, Shadab, Nawaz.

Are you saying India have a better attack than this currently? Bumrah is out of the World T20.

 

[Ab Fan]

Pakistan have this attack - Shaheen, Naseem, Rauf, Shadab, Nawaz.

Are you saying India have a better attack than this currently? Bumrah is out of the World T20.

Naah..I even agree with you that they have better batting too in addition to other stuffs that I mentioned

 

[jnaveen1980]

Pakistan have this attack - Shaheen, Naseem, Rauf, Shadab, Nawaz.

Are you saying India have a better attack than this currently? Bumrah is out of the World T20.

lol He agrees with you there even the part where you say Pakistan batting is better than Indian batting

 

[Madplayer]

Yes, its going to very wet summer in Australia, already there are severe floods in Victoria and NSW.

They havent updated for Sunday yet, but best place to keep track of the forecast is on the Bureau of Meteorology website - http://www.bom.gov.au/vic/forecasts/melbourne.shtml

I suspect if there is a game it will be shortened

Thats not good news.

Shortened game favours India due to their explosive batsmen.

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Thats not good news.

Shortened game favours India due to their explosive batsmen.

India are favorites anyway lol.

 

[Cover Drive Six]

Our death bowling is worse than associate teams, even 200 targets are not enough to defend.
Pakistan has more chances to win.

 

[Madplayer]

India are favorites anyway lol.

Yes but only slightly this time. I said 55-45 in favour of India earlier in the thread. I think that's a reasonable assessment.

 

[Mesozoic]

This doesn't seem like an "iconic" fixture anymore after Pakistan broke the streak last year. The whole reason behind the hype around the previous Indo-Pak world cup games was due to two things..

1. Will India make it 12-0 or 13-0 or whatever..

Or

2. Will Pakistan finally win a World Cup game against India?


Now that the latter is done, this just feels like another game which happens to be at a world Cup.

 

[Sarwar89]

Still you guys think Pakistan are favorites?

Pakistan has always been ahead of India in Cricket 88-71

And Field Hockey 82-64

I do not understand what is such a big fuss about it, number speak volumes. Indians tend to only count selective tournaments to ensure their win tally looks better.

Combine both cricket and hockey win percentage results
Pakistan is miles ahead with lead of almost 35 matches. P

 

[Sarwar89]

Pakistan has always been ahead of India in Cricket 88-71

And Field Hockey 82-64

I do not understand what is such a big fuss about it, number speak volumes. Indians tend to only count selective tournaments to ensure their win tally looks better.

Combine both cricket and hockey win percentage results
Pakistan is miles ahead with lead of almost 35 matches. P

Topping up on my comment, India is yet to win any major tournament on Pakistani soil.

While Pakistan won Hockey world cup in India 1982
And also won iconic Nehru cup ( equivalent to icc champions trophy) in 1989 in India.

In Hockey we have 4 world cups in comparison to India’s only 1.
And when they hear it they bring up 1930’s and 40’s olympic medals

In cricket they completely discard their thrashings by imran’s team of 1980’s and they tend to start from only 92 or actually 96 world cup. When some tells them 88-71 they say well, Only talk about ICC

In hockey they do not wish to talk about world cup instead they only want to talk about 1930’s and 40’s olympic medals.

Selective mindset. I live in Dubai & most of my colleagues are Indians, i know their mindset way too well.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Topping up on my comment, India is yet to win any major tournament on Pakistani soil.

While Pakistan won Hockey world cup in India 1982
And also won iconic Nehru cup ( equivalent to icc champions trophy) in 1989 in India.

In Hockey we have 4 world cups in comparison to India’s only 1.
And when they hear it they bring up 1930’s and 40’s olympic medals ������

In cricket they completely discard their thrashings by imran’s team of 1980’s and they tend to start from only 92 or actually 96 world cup. When some tells them 88-71 they say well, Only talk about ICC

In hockey they do not wish to talk about world cup �� instead they only want to talk about 1930’s and 40’s olympic medals.

Selective mindset. I live in Dubai & most of my colleagues are Indians, i know their mindset way too well.

Are you sure. Benson & Hedges world series India thrashed every single team including Pakistan (twice) in Australia.

 

[Sarwar89]

Are you sure. Benson & Hedges world series India thrashed every single team including Pakistan (twice) in Australia.

That was in Australia.

How about AustraAsia cup finals of 1986/1994 ?
Or as a small matter of fact winning Nehru cup in Indian soil enroute of beating india in group stages and 2 weeks earlier beating India in Rothmans cup final in sharjah october 89 ?


Has india ever won any tournament in pakistani soil ?

 

[jnaveen1980]

That was in Australia.

How about AustraAsia cup finals of 1986/1994 ?
Or as a small matter of fact winning Nehru cup in Indian soil enroute of beating india in group stages and 2 weeks earlier beating India in Rothmans cup final in sharjah october 89 ?


Has india ever won any tournament in pakistani soil ?

With out neutral umpires it was impossible in addition to "other" things. Do not bring up the 80s now

 

[Kriketer]

With out neutral umpires it was impossible in addition to "other" things. Do not bring up the 80s now

Sure the list of excuses never ends with you folks. It's not too hard to just confess that you were a mediocre team so lost

Not that much have changed

 

[Visaal-E-Yaar]

If it's washout, moral victory for both countries

 

[Gollum]

Pakistan are inferior on paper but boys are pumped up for India game because performing in it can secure their place in the team for at least 2 years. I think we will win it.

 

[Major]

5 over game, and Asif Ali openning the innings for us.

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

Hopefully match is not played due to rain. I don't fancy Pakistan's chances with our weak middle over.

 

[Ab Fan]

India are ahead by 5-3 since 2017 but this is Pakistan's best chance to level up as they have a more exciting and arguably better bowling attack than Indian attack.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Sure the list of excuses never ends with you folks. It's not too hard to just confess that you were a mediocre team so lost

Not that much have changed

Not an excuse. Well documented. India won back to back ODI series in Pakistan 2004/2006. This is post extensive video coverage, neutral umpires.

 

[jnaveen1980]

India are ahead by 5-3 since 2017 but this is Pakistan's best chance to level up as they have a more exciting and arguably better bowling attack than Indian attack.

T20 format anything can happen. Hope it is a cracker of a match.

 

[CrIc_Mystique]

Massive rain chance. The forcast aint great from thursday onwards.
The BOM says 80 pc of rain on Sunday with 6-20mm. possiblity also of a thunderstorm.
Hopefully its in the morning and come match time, it clears and the ground drains quickily to get the match started.
I somehow think that this is going to be a reduced 8-9 ov shootout.
If that happens, i think both teams will load their team with batsmen and top heavy with hitters going for the tall timber from ball one.
Will be freezin in the G for sure

 

[CrIc_Mystique]

Topping up on my comment, India is yet to win any major tournament on Pakistani soil.

While Pakistan won Hockey world cup in India 1982
And also won iconic Nehru cup ( equivalent to icc champions trophy) in 1989 in India.

In Hockey we have 4 world cups in comparison to India’s only 1.
And when they hear it they bring up 1930’s and 40’s olympic medals ������

In cricket they completely discard their thrashings by imran’s team of 1980’s and they tend to start from only 92 or actually 96 world cup. When some tells them 88-71 they say well, Only talk about ICC

In hockey they do not wish to talk about world cup �� instead they only want to talk about 1930’s and 40’s olympic medals.

Selective mindset. I live in Dubai & most of my colleagues are Indians, i know their mindset way too well.

The same selective mindset with a lot of my pak friends as well.
As soon as we discuss trophies and olympic medals, it invariably turns out to be 'with your population, you have won nothing' conveniently forgetting/ignoring that you have the 2nd highest cricket playing population shouldnt you be making the finals of every ICC tourney?
or the fifth ranking on every olympic and world championships medals tally?

 

[light]

On paper, Ind looks favorite but if only on paper won you games. In reality, it's 50-50. Ind's batting is all over the place these days. Pak is top-order heavy, if the top order fails, who else is scoring runs at the bottom? Plus fielding during the recent tri-series has been terrible. Basically, both team is coming in with lots of baggage into this WC.

 

[Babeikh]

Yeah forecast looks abysmal so high chance match will be a wash out.

 

[Sarwar89]

The same selective mindset with a lot of my pak friends as well.
As soon as we discuss trophies and olympic medals, it invariably turns out to be 'with your population, you have won nothing' conveniently forgetting/ignoring that you have the 2nd highest cricket playing population shouldnt you be making the finals of every ICC tourney?
or the fifth ranking on every olympic and world championships medals tally?

I honestly do not know what excuses you are talking about. I am least interested in size of land and population. In simple language i only know overall statistics and overall stats do not lie.

It is 88-71 in pakistan’s favor in cricket
82-64 in hockey in pakistan’s favor

+ 2 major trophies pakistan has won in India
1982 hockey world cup
1989 Nehru cup


4 yes four World cups in hockey.

Cricket is not bad either
1 world cup each odi/t20

In total 6 world cups in both sports.

India
1 solitary hockey world cup
And 3 cricket world cups (2 odi/1 t20)

In total 4 world cups.


World cup is pinnacle of each sport
It is not our fault that before 1971 there was no hockey world cup and we can say same for cricket as before 1975 there was no cricket world cup.

 

[CrIc_Mystique]

I honestly do not know what excuses you are talking about. I am least interested in size of land and population. In simple language i only know overall statistics and overall stats do not lie.

It is 88-71 in pakistan’s favor in cricket
82-64 in hockey in pakistan’s favor

+ 2 major trophies pakistan has won in India
1982 hockey world cup
1989 Nehru cup


4 yes four World cups in hockey.

Cricket is not bad either
1 world cup each odi/t20

In total 6 world cups in both sports.

India
1 solitary hockey world cup
And 3 cricket world cups (2 odi/1 t20)

In total 4 world cups.


World cup is pinnacle of each sport
It is not our fault that before 1971 there was no hockey world cup and we can say same for cricket as before 1975 there was no cricket world cup.

Ok Bro, i concede.
Pk has better odi record head to head
Pak has better test record head to head
2 major trophies pak won in india
Hockey head to head pak leads
more hockey world cups pak has won
Fantastic, Well done - Cheers M8!

 

[Swashbuckler]

Australia is practically India's backyard when it comes to cricket, our players enjoy those conditions and tend to overachieve consistently. Pakistani team has a horrendous record in Australia especially in the last 20 years across formats and has consistently underachieved. Pakistani batsmen don't do that well against steep bounce, poor fitness/fielding/running on those big grounds, bowlers get carried away with the bounce hence bowling too short. Not to mention the psychological baggage they carry in that country.

Personally I think Pakistani T20 team is better than the Indian one, pace+spin attack of Pakistan gives them a clear edge. But conditions play into India's hands. Any other country I would have put Pakistan as clear favorites, just because venue is in Australia I must give the edge to India. 3 teams that will enjoy Aussie conditions are the hosts, South Africa and India. Pakistan will always start as underdogs against these 3 teams in Australian conditions in all formats. Upsets do happen yes, and a lot will also depend on who handles pressure better that day. Right now 55-45 in favor of Team India.

 

[Rajdeep]

My dear fellow Indians - please let me know if you agree with my assessment.

I think we need to surprise them. Predictibility is the last thing you want in T20 cricket. We need a surprise element like how we send Jadeja at no.4 in 1st Asia cup game and Pakistan did the same with Nawaz on 4th sept. Both won the game for their team.

I would say open with Rishab Pant and ask him to take advantage of powerplay overs. KL & Rohit is too predictable and a pair Shaheen Afridi would love to bowl against straight after his injury. So why not throw a cat among the pigeons and send Pant (left hander) to take on Shaheen? He can dish him the same treatment that he did to Mitchel Starc in 2020. I would open with KL and Rohit in both the warm ups and quietly play Pant at 6. Then surprise Pakistan on 23rd by sending him top of the order.

Also, I would play Shami in both warm ups but would not play him against Pakistan. I would preserve him for later games. The reason being every team around the world has started to pick Harshal's slower balls bcoz they play him a lot in IPL. None of the Pakistani players played Harshal and as we know facing him 1st time can be very tricky (eg IPL 2020). I would surely play Harshal Patel against Pakistan as a surprise element.

I would also drop Yuzi Chahal and play Ravi Ashwin. I was watching the recent tri series and Pakistan was struggling against that off spinnner of NZ (forgot his name). They played Chahal's leg spin in Asia cup as if its a Christmas gift from Santa. So I would play Ashwin for this game only and would also bowl him in power play.

DK should sit out for this game as MCG is too big a ground for him to clear and his slogging wont work. People forget all his heroics (Nidahas, IPLs etc.) came in sub continent conditions. He got a poor record in Australia or other SENA countries.

T20 cricket is all about ran-niti (strategy) and half the game is won in decision making. There is no time for in game adjustments like in test cricket or even in ODIs. Rahul Dravid is too old fashioned to realize this.

Anyway below is my playing XI for this game:

Rishab Pant (WK)
Rohit Sharma (c)
Virat Kohli
KL Rahul
Suryakumar
Hardik Pandya
Axar Patel
Ravi Ashwin
Harshal Patel
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Arshdeep Singh

Play the above team and we can all do happy dance post the game.

 

[Swashbuckler]

Forget batting, we all know Pakistan's historical weakness against bounce, similar to how swing in England has historically bamboozled most Indian batting lineups.

Even among bowlers I have seen Pakistani greats like Waqar, Shoaib, Gul, Amir lose their minds in Australia. They see steep bounce, their eyes light up and they just lose the plot when it comes to finding the correct line and length especially length. Shoaib wasted an entire spell bowling a ferocious short pitched barrage against Ponting in WACA 20 years ago, what happened? Looked good but Ponting scored 198 and Australia won by an innings. Similarly Wahab bowled a ferocious spell in the 2015 WC QF and made Watson look like a rabbit, but he overdid that and Aussies won comfortably with 15 overs to spare, you can't win a match just with bouncer barrage in Australia, must mix the short ones with fuller ones, play with the lengths etc. Far inferior Indian bowlers like Mohit Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Ishant, Natarajan etc. have found more success in Australia than Pakistani greats because they didn't get carried away with the bounce, found much better lengths to mess with the minds of opponent batsmen.

There is an assumption here that Shaheen and Naseem will be too hot to handle on 23rd but from what I remember from their previous tour they got tonked by the Aussies, a year later the likes of debutant Siraj, Thakur, Natarajan restricted Australia to low scores consistently. I know it is a different format but what I mean to say is that length is very important in Australia, miss it by a few inches and the bowlers will get carted around. There is no guarantee that Naseem-Shaheen will find the prefect lengths especially after coming back from injury, and if they don't find that they are going to bleed runs. Naseem with his short height can't afford to miss his lengths by an inch otherwise he is cannon fodder in those conditions. I think PPers will be in for a surprise on 23rd, Indian trundlers are going to surprise many.

 

[Swashbuckler]

Previous times these 2 sides have met in Australia in world events

1985 World Championship of Cricket
League match (MCG): India won by 6 wickets
Final (MCG): India won by 8 wickets

1992 World Cup (SCG)
India won by 43 runs

2015 World Cup (Adelaide)
India won by 76 runs

Now add a couple of other facts.

1. Pakistan has never won a T20I in Australia. Highest score 150.
2. India has the best W/L ratio in T20Is in Australia (won 7, lost 4), even better than hosts Australia. HS 200, bunch of 180s as well.

Pakistan may be a better T20 team overall but beating India in Australia is a Herculean task, no matter how weak Indian team may look on paper.

 

[Ab Fan]

My dear fellow Indians - please let me know if you agree with my assessment.

I think we need to surprise them. Predictibility is the last thing you want in T20 cricket. We need a surprise element like how we send Jadeja at no.4 in 1st Asia cup game and Pakistan did the same with Nawaz on 4th sept. Both won the game for their team.

I would say open with Rishab Pant and ask him to take advantage of powerplay overs. KL & Rohit is too predictable and a pair Shaheen Afridi would love to bowl against straight after his injury. So why not throw a cat among the pigeons and send Pant (left hander) to take on Shaheen? He can dish him the same treatment that he did to Mitchel Starc in 2020. I would open with KL and Rohit in both the warm ups and quietly play Pant at 6. Then surprise Pakistan on 23rd by sending him top of the order.

Also, I would play Shami in both warm ups but would not play him against Pakistan. I would preserve him for later games. The reason being every team around the world has started to pick Harshal's slower balls bcoz they play him a lot in IPL. None of the Pakistani players played Harshal and as we know facing him 1st time can be very tricky (eg IPL 2020). I would surely play Harshal Patel against Pakistan as a surprise element.

I would also drop Yuzi Chahal and play Ravi Ashwin. I was watching the recent tri series and Pakistan was struggling against that off spinnner of NZ (forgot his name). They played Chahal's leg spin in Asia cup as if its a Christmas gift from Santa. So I would play Ashwin for this game only and would also bowl him in power play.

DK should sit out for this game as MCG is too big a ground for him to clear and his slogging wont work. People forget all his heroics (Nidahas, IPLs etc.) came in sub continent conditions. He got a poor record in Australia or other SENA countries.

T20 cricket is all about ran-niti (strategy) and half the game is won in decision making. There is no time for in game adjustments like in test cricket or even in ODIs. Rahul Dravid is too old fashioned to realize this.

Anyway below is my playing XI for this game:

Rishab Pant (WK)
Rohit Sharma (c)
Virat Kohli
KL Rahul
Suryakumar
Hardik Pandya
Axar Patel
Ravi Ashwin
Harshal Patel
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Arshdeep Singh

Play the above team and we can all do happy dance post the game.

Good assessment on Pant. I would do the same too. Last year we reached 150 also thanks to Kohli and Pant partnership so it was right left combination that recovered us from the collapse and that is how India should start.

However, knowing Dravid and Sharma, it won't happen. They will say that Rahul performed in the warm up while Pant failed hence going by the process, it will be Rahul opening.

Regarding the Ashwin point, I think Yuzi on long grounds will be different compared to what he was in UAE. Those conditions simply didn't worked for him but in Australia he can lure the batsman with flight and that skiddy action he has got. But Ashwin too has a case for himself on large grounds.

A bowling attack of Bhuvi, Harshal and Arshdeep doesn't sound good to me. It is a full trundler attack and I think Babar/Rizwan will enjoy smashing the trundlers.

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Good assessment on Pant. I would do the same too. Last year we reached 150 also thanks to Kohli and Pant partnership so it was right left combination that recovered us from the collapse and that is how India should start.

However, knowing Dravid and Sharma, it won't happen. They will say that Rahul performed in the warm up while Pant failed hence going by the process, it will be Rahul opening.

Regarding the Ashwin point, I think Yuzi on long grounds will be different compared to what he was in UAE. Those conditions simply didn't worked for him but in Australia he can lure the batsman with flight and that skiddy action he has got. But Ashwin too has a case for himself on large grounds.

A bowling attack of Bhuvi, Harshal and Arshdeep doesn't sound good to me. It is a full trundler attack and I think Babar/Rizwan will enjoy smashing the trundlers.

And what is wrong with that? Why should they pick a player who hasn't been performing for 60+ matches? Pant is himself to blame for that. If he still gets a chance to open the inning even though there are better options available than him in India, then he should consider himself lucky. They won't experiment in the biggest match of this tournament.

 

[Sarwar89]

Previous times these 2 sides have met in Australia in world events

1985 World Championship of Cricket
League match (MCG): India won by 6 wickets
Final (MCG): India won by 8 wickets

1992 World Cup (SCG)
India won by 43 runs

2015 World Cup (Adelaide)
India won by 76 runs

Now add a couple of other facts.

1. Pakistan has never won a T20I in Australia. Highest score 150.
2. India has the best W/L ratio in T20Is in Australia (won 7, lost 4), even better than hosts Australia. HS 200, bunch of 180s as well.

Pakistan may be a better T20 team overall but beating India in Australia is a Herculean task, no matter how weak Indian team may look on paper.

How easy it is to say “ herculian”
You might be forgetting a star studded indian team lost 7 out of 8 matches in Tri-Series in Australia soon after 1999 world cup.

They lost 3 straight odi matches v pakistan
And narrowly managed to win the 4th match to make it 1-3 v pak.

Onviously you will get back with these narratives

1) it was not t20 , it was odi
2) it was not major tournament

Let me answer you in advance.

1) you citee examples of 1985 and 1992 so they were also odi tournaments
2) tri series was tough tournament back in the days as you had best of 3 finals and you need to play 10-11 matches ( odi) to win it.
1000 overs of cricket. ( not a joke)


And 1 small thing in 1992 india only won 2 out of 8 matches.

If i see it from my “ intentional” narrow angle
8 + 8 = 16 matches
And 3 wins ( 92 cup + tri series )

That is not much of hercules i can see here.

 

[Ab Fan]

And what is wrong with that? Why should they pick a player who hasn't been performing for 60+ matches? Pant is himself to blame for that. If he still gets a chance to open the inning even though there are better options available than him in India, then he should consider himself lucky. They won't experiment in the biggest match of this tournament.

Nothing wrong with that but then don't shout on them when they don't win the tournament.

In 2007, if Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly weren't dropped, nothing would have been wrong there also except that we won't have won the WT20.

T20 is a volatile format and flexibility is important. You have to take a deep dive into the game to come up with right decisions rather than following the usual protocol of selections.

It is because of that only that we have got the attack of Bhuvi, Harshal and Arshdeep in our squad and Shami was brought back in last moment. There is nothing wrong here also but had they been more flexible and taken a smart route via thorough understanding of the game, we might have seen Umran or Mohsin getting more chances and looked for T20 World Cups.

I guess you got the gist there. Now obviously since the name in consideration is Rishabh Pant so obviously you won't like this but then not everything being posted here is to please you so nothing can be done for that part

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Nothing wrong with that but then don't shout on them when they don't win the tournament.

In 2007, if Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly weren't dropped, nothing would have been wrong there also except that we won't have won the WT20.

T20 is a volatile format and flexibility is important. You have to take a deep dive into the game to come up with right decisions rather than following the usual protocol of selections.

It is because of that only that we have got the attack of Bhuvi, Harshal and Arshdeep in our squad and Shami was brought back in last moment. There is nothing wrong here also but had they been more flexible and taken a smart route via thorough understanding of the game, we might have seen Umran or Mohsin getting more chances and looked for T20 World Cups.

I guess you got the gist there. Now obviously since the name in consideration is Rishabh Pant so obviously you won't like this but then not everything being posted here is to please you so nothing can be done for that part

First of all good to know you are still reading my posts and not ignoring me again. Secondly I said this is not the time to experiment. May be they can try Pant as an opener against weaker teams if and only if KL Rahul performs badly and is dropped from the team in the middle of this world cup. I can't see Rohit sacrificing his spot for Pant also.

The name in consideration is Pant who has pretty average stats in T20s. Anyone who has seen him perform and not worship him blindly will question his performances. Also according to you, opening is the easiest job in T20s, is this why you want Pant to open?

 

[jnaveen1980]

Australia is practically India's backyard when it comes to cricket, our players enjoy those conditions and tend to overachieve consistently. Pakistani team has a horrendous record in Australia especially in the last 20 years across formats and has consistently underachieved. Pakistani batsmen don't do that well against steep bounce, poor fitness/fielding/running on those big grounds, bowlers get carried away with the bounce hence bowling too short. Not to mention the psychological baggage they carry in that country.

Personally I think Pakistani T20 team is better than the Indian one, pace+spin attack of Pakistan gives them a clear edge. But conditions play into India's hands. Any other country I would have put Pakistan as clear favorites, just because venue is in Australia I must give the edge to India. 3 teams that will enjoy Aussie conditions are the hosts, South Africa and India. Pakistan will always start as underdogs against these 3 teams in Australian conditions in all formats. Upsets do happen yes, and a lot will also depend on who handles pressure better that day. Right now 55-45 in favor of Team India.

Current form is the key. Kohli is not having high strike rate these days. Rohit is adopting this new strategy of slogging which often results in a cameo more than a substanital innings. KL Rahul has the strike rate issue as well mainly due to his own selfish approach. Otherwise he is quiet capable. This is why India's good history in Australia may be just good on paper.

 

[Technics 1210]

1. Pakistan has never won a T20I in Australia. Highest score 150.

You do realise Pakistan has only ever played 4 T20i in Oz, 1 of which was rained off.

And here's a fact for you, this is the first time Australia will be hosting the T20 WC.

 

[Visaal-E-Yaar]

Not looking good

 

[Swashbuckler]

How easy it is to say “ herculian”
You might be forgetting a star studded indian team lost 7 out of 8 matches in Tri-Series in Australia soon after 1999 world cup.

They lost 3 straight odi matches v pakistan
And narrowly managed to win the 4th match to make it 1-3 v pak.

Onviously you will get back with these narratives

1) it was not t20 , it was odi
2) it was not major tournament

Let me answer you in advance.

1) you citee examples of 1985 and 1992 so they were also odi tournaments
2) tri series was tough tournament back in the days as you had best of 3 finals and you need to play 10-11 matches ( odi) to win it.
1000 overs of cricket. ( not a joke)


And 1 small thing in 1992 india only won 2 out of 8 matches.

If i see it from my “ intentional” narrow angle
8 + 8 = 16 matches
And 3 wins ( 92 cup + tri series )

That is not much of hercules i can see here.

1999 India was a minnow team. They used to lose to everybody including Zimbabwe in that period. Dravid was a terrible ODI player back despite his 1999 WC runs, look at the state of that middle order with players like Robin Singh, Kanitkar, Jacob Martin. Even our bowling used to be terrible back then, 20 overs of Srinath-Kumble and 30 overs of God knows what.

India and Pakistan played 4 matches but the only narrow win was by Pakistan where they won on the last ball of the innings with 2 wickets to spare, and India choked a victory there, denied by Pakistani tailenders. India's win wasn't narrow, it was pretty comfortable. If you compare the strengths of the 2 sides then, Pakistan should have comfortably won all matches by gigantic margins, that Pak team was top 3 in ODIs along with Australia and SA, and the Indian team was a club side, weaker than every Australian domestic side. After that tri series I remember a Pepsi Cup in India and some tournament in Sharjah where Pakistan beat India 8-9 consecutive times and not by small margins, that was how pathetic India was back then, relatively India gave a tougher fight to Pakistan in Australia than in India and UAE.

1992 India campaign was unlucky, where they lost 2-3 matches by very narrow margin, for instance against Australia by 1 run and that too after rain changed the equation in favor of Australia at the end of the match. Anyway the 90s Indian teams were full of mental midgets and not worth following after Sachin's dismissal.

 

[Swashbuckler]

World cup is pinnacle of each sport
It is not our fault that before 1971 there was no hockey world cup and we can say same for cricket as before 1975 there was no cricket world cup.

Not necessarily true, sometimes whichever has longer history tends to have an edge. Olympics is the pinnacle in field hockey, just like international basketball and ice hockey. There is a basketball WC but the US defeat at the hands of USSR in 1972 Olympics is still talked about more than all FIBA WCs put together. Likewise ice hockey.

You can't simply discount India's 5 Olympic golds (ok 1980 is overrated, still 4) post independence. Also the pre-1947 team was dominated by those who stayed back in India after partition, and that team had GOAT Dhyan Chand. Pakistan has been overall better in hockey but can't wash away India's legacy especially that of giants like Dhyan Chand and Balbir Singh (3 consecutive golds, 1948-56).

 

[Farabi]

Forget batting, we all know Pakistan's historical weakness against bounce, similar to how swing in England has historically bamboozled most Indian batting lineups.

Even among bowlers I have seen Pakistani greats like Waqar, Shoaib, Gul, Amir lose their minds in Australia. They see steep bounce, their eyes light up and they just lose the plot when it comes to finding the correct line and length especially length. Shoaib wasted an entire spell bowling a ferocious short pitched barrage against Ponting in WACA 20 years ago, what happened? Looked good but Ponting scored 198 and Australia won by an innings. Similarly Wahab bowled a ferocious spell in the 2015 WC QF and made Watson look like a rabbit, but he overdid that and Aussies won comfortably with 15 overs to spare, you can't win a match just with bouncer barrage in Australia, must mix the short ones with fuller ones, play with the lengths etc. Far inferior Indian bowlers like Mohit Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Ishant, Natarajan etc. have found more success in Australia than Pakistani greats because they didn't get carried away with the bounce, found much better lengths to mess with the minds of opponent batsmen.

There is an assumption here that Shaheen and Naseem will be too hot to handle on 23rd but from what I remember from their previous tour they got tonked by the Aussies, a year later the likes of debutant Siraj, Thakur, Natarajan restricted Australia to low scores consistently. I know it is a different format but what I mean to say is that length is very important in Australia, miss it by a few inches and the bowlers will get carted around. There is no guarantee that Naseem-Shaheen will find the prefect lengths especially after coming back from injury, and if they don't find that they are going to bleed runs. Naseem with his short height can't afford to miss his lengths by an inch otherwise he is cannon fodder in those conditions. I think PPers will be in for a surprise on 23rd, Indian trundlers are going to surprise many.

Generally a good analysis but devoid of depth.

Wasim Akram enjoyed Aussie conditions.

I am not sure about Gul. He was never that good in test cricket but I do remember a few good performances in Aus

Amir and Asif did well on their first tour to Aus. We could have won the Sydney test if not for batting collapse chasing 160.

Shoaib Akhtar helped Pak beat Aus in Aus in the 2000/01 ODI series when Aus was at its absolute peak.

Naseem-Shaheen played that test series as debutants/rookies and have evolved since then. They didn’t feature in the T20 matches that Pak lost in that tour. The bowling line up featured a washed up Irfan, Amir, Wahab Riaz and a complete rookie/debutant Hasnain.
None of these guys will feature on Oct 23rd.

Since then, Shaheen and Naseem have come a long way and are better T20 bowlers anyway. Shaheen is a bit “starc-ish” so he shouldn’t fare too badly in LOI.

Hasnain, Shadab and Rauf have played in BBL and seen success. Haris plays for Melbourne and MCG is actually is home ground.

They are also benefiting with an Tait as current bowling coach who can hopefully share some tips. Also Hayden has joined the squad as mentor.

Again, I don’t disagree that Indian bowling has over-performed in Aus and Pak underperformed. But the sample size, particularly for T20s is kinda small and irrelevant.

 

[Farabi]

My dear fellow Indians - please let me know if you agree with my assessment.

I think we need to surprise them. Predictibility is the last thing you want in T20 cricket. We need a surprise element like how we send Jadeja at no.4 in 1st Asia cup game and Pakistan did the same with Nawaz on 4th sept. Both won the game for their team.

I would say open with Rishab Pant and ask him to take advantage of powerplay overs. KL & Rohit is too predictable and a pair Shaheen Afridi would love to bowl against straight after his injury. So why not throw a cat among the pigeons and send Pant (left hander) to take on Shaheen? He can dish him the same treatment that he did to Mitchel Starc in 2020. I would open with KL and Rohit in both the warm ups and quietly play Pant at 6. Then surprise Pakistan on 23rd by sending him top of the order.

Also, I would play Shami in both warm ups but would not play him against Pakistan. I would preserve him for later games. The reason being every team around the world has started to pick Harshal's slower balls bcoz they play him a lot in IPL. None of the Pakistani players played Harshal and as we know facing him 1st time can be very tricky (eg IPL 2020). I would surely play Harshal Patel against Pakistan as a surprise element.

I would also drop Yuzi Chahal and play Ravi Ashwin. I was watching the recent tri series and Pakistan was struggling against that off spinnner of NZ (forgot his name). They played Chahal's leg spin in Asia cup as if its a Christmas gift from Santa. So I would play Ashwin for this game only and would also bowl him in power play.

DK should sit out for this game as MCG is too big a ground for him to clear and his slogging wont work. People forget all his heroics (Nidahas, IPLs etc.) came in sub continent conditions. He got a poor record in Australia or other SENA countries.

T20 cricket is all about ran-niti (strategy) and half the game is won in decision making. There is no time for in game adjustments like in test cricket or even in ODIs. Rahul Dravid is too old fashioned to realize this.

Anyway below is my playing XI for this game:

Rishab Pant (WK)
Rohit Sharma (c)
Virat Kohli
KL Rahul
Suryakumar
Hardik Pandya
Axar Patel
Ravi Ashwin
Harshal Patel
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Arshdeep Singh

Play the above team and we can all do happy dance post the game.

Good analysis. I am surprised India prefer Rahul over Pant as an opener. Mentally Pant looks much more stronger.

 

[moghul]

India's batting now is too strong to have significant problem against a good Pakistan bowling but Pak batting is ridiculously weak and will make even bowlers like Bhuvi some ATG. If Babar and Rizwan gave Pak another great start, then Pakistan has a chance. I think India has at least 60:40 advantage , if not more.

 

[jnaveen1980]

My dear fellow Indians - please let me know if you agree with my assessment.

I think we need to surprise them. Predictibility is the last thing you want in T20 cricket. We need a surprise element like how we send Jadeja at no.4 in 1st Asia cup game and Pakistan did the same with Nawaz on 4th sept. Both won the game for their team.

I would say open with Rishab Pant and ask him to take advantage of powerplay overs. KL & Rohit is too predictable and a pair Shaheen Afridi would love to bowl against straight after his injury. So why not throw a cat among the pigeons and send Pant (left hander) to take on Shaheen? He can dish him the same treatment that he did to Mitchel Starc in 2020. I would open with KL and Rohit in both the warm ups and quietly play Pant at 6. Then surprise Pakistan on 23rd by sending him top of the order.

Also, I would play Shami in both warm ups but would not play him against Pakistan. I would preserve him for later games. The reason being every team around the world has started to pick Harshal's slower balls bcoz they play him a lot in IPL. None of the Pakistani players played Harshal and as we know facing him 1st time can be very tricky (eg IPL 2020). I would surely play Harshal Patel against Pakistan as a surprise element.

I would also drop Yuzi Chahal and play Ravi Ashwin. I was watching the recent tri series and Pakistan was struggling against that off spinnner of NZ (forgot his name). They played Chahal's leg spin in Asia cup as if its a Christmas gift from Santa. So I would play Ashwin for this game only and would also bowl him in power play.

DK should sit out for this game as MCG is too big a ground for him to clear and his slogging wont work. People forget all his heroics (Nidahas, IPLs etc.) came in sub continent conditions. He got a poor record in Australia or other SENA countries.

T20 cricket is all about ran-niti (strategy) and half the game is won in decision making. There is no time for in game adjustments like in test cricket or even in ODIs. Rahul Dravid is too old fashioned to realize this.

Anyway below is my playing XI for this game:

Rishab Pant (WK)
Rohit Sharma (c)
Virat Kohli
KL Rahul
Suryakumar
Hardik Pandya
Axar Patel
Ravi Ashwin
Harshal Patel
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Arshdeep Singh

Play the above team and we can all do happy dance post the game.

Last 5 in the line up with bat is depressing and hopeless. India cannot afford to lose more than 3 wickets if they bat first. Even witih 2 overs to go if they lose 5 wickets they will not score more than 15 runs in the last 2.

 

[moghul]

Forget batting, we all know Pakistan's historical weakness against bounce, similar to how swing in England has historically bamboozled most Indian batting lineups.

Even among bowlers I have seen Pakistani greats like Waqar, Shoaib, Gul, Amir lose their minds in Australia. They see steep bounce, their eyes light up and they just lose the plot when it comes to finding the correct line and length especially length. Shoaib wasted an entire spell bowling a ferocious short pitched barrage against Ponting in WACA 20 years ago, what happened? Looked good but Ponting scored 198 and Australia won by an innings. Similarly Wahab bowled a ferocious spell in the 2015 WC QF and made Watson look like a rabbit, but he overdid that and Aussies won comfortably with 15 overs to spare, you can't win a match just with bouncer barrage in Australia, must mix the short ones with fuller ones, play with the lengths etc. Far inferior Indian bowlers like Mohit Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Ishant, Natarajan etc. have found more success in Australia than Pakistani greats because they didn't get carried away with the bounce, found much better lengths to mess with the minds of opponent batsmen.

There is an assumption here that Shaheen and Naseem will be too hot to handle on 23rd but from what I remember from their previous tour they got tonked by the Aussies, a year later the likes of debutant Siraj, Thakur, Natarajan restricted Australia to low scores consistently. I know it is a different format but what I mean to say is that length is very important in Australia, miss it by a few inches and the bowlers will get carted around. There is no guarantee that Naseem-Shaheen will find the prefect lengths especially after coming back from injury, and if they don't find that they are going to bleed runs. Naseem with his short height can't afford to miss his lengths by an inch otherwise he is cannon fodder in those conditions. I think PPers will be in for a surprise on 23rd, Indian trundlers are going to surprise many.

Interesting analysis but hopefully Pakistan's fast bowling coach Shaun Tait will be a big help in guiding Shaheen , Naseem and co.

 

[Mahee]

no doubt it's going to be India...we will lose it against Aus and Eng...everyone else should be a cake walk for us this time

 

[Sports_Psychologist]

just watching India vs Australia's match and oh man KL Rahul is treating Australian bowlers quite badly, I hope this isn't the same with pakistani bowlers, may be match pressure will help

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

just watching India vs Australia's match and oh man KL Rahul is treating Australian bowlers quite badly, I hope this isn't the same with pakistani bowlers, may be match pressure will help

And some experts here want Pant to open the inning and want KL to bat at 4.

KL scored 57 from 33 balls.

 

[Unbiased-Fan]

Rain

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Good to know that Karthik can hit a 6 on Australian grounds as well.

 

[proud_pakistani]

These days India always start these games slight favourites ahead of us because if their batting works to its full potential they will bat Pakistan out of the game. If their batting fares slightly below their potential than Pakistan will have a chance. Again a lot depends on Shaheen, Naseem and Rauf on how they restrict. It say its 60-40 in Indias favour.

 

[alone1213]

India has prepared for this world cup the most. They have played 32 t20is in 2022 by far the most by any team.

India is prepared to win the world cup and Australia is their favourite place as well. Indian fans should not accept anything other than a T20 world cup. India is here to win.

I would say hand over the trophy to India already. Other teams should surrender.

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Pandya gave away 18 runs in his first over.

 

[Cric1234]

Washout draw.

 

[Ab Fan]

First of all good to know you are still reading my posts and not ignoring me again. Secondly I said this is not the time to experiment. May be they can try Pant as an opener against weaker teams if and only if KL Rahul performs badly and is dropped from the team in the middle of this world cup. I can't see Rohit sacrificing his spot for Pant also.

The name in consideration is Pant who has pretty average stats in T20s. Anyone who has seen him perform and not worship him blindly will question his performances. Also according to you, opening is the easiest job in T20s, is this why you want Pant to open?

Glad to know that you are happy that I finally quoted you. It must be the news of the week for you, basically a Diwali Gift before Diwali