It is not often that India and Pakistan meet at the International scene frequently, let alone taking on each other for the second time in almost a week’s time. After the group-stage match between these two heavyweights was abandoned due to rain on last Saturday, the arch-rivals will once again take on each other on Sunday at the R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo.
India had found themselves in a spot of bother at 66-4 after the Pakistan fast bowlers wreaked havoc. Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya were able to rebuild the innings with fine knocks of 82 and 87 runs respectively. The duo had added a fine alliance of 138 runs to help India post 266 runs on the board.
On the other hand, Pakistan’s fast bowling unit was right on the money, picking all the 10 wickets among them. Shaheen Shah Afridi had scalped four wickets whereas Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf bagged three wickets each.
Furthermore, the pace battery was able to continue their good work in their opening Super Fours stage match against Bangladesh. Rauf had returned with figures of 4-19 against the Tigers and he is once again going to hold the key for Pakistan.
Meanwhile, India’s top-order could not deliver against Pakistan and they will be looking to give a solid start to their team. Moreover, India will have selection headaches as KL Rahul is close to full fitness whereas Kishan had proved his mettle against Pakistan in the group-stage match.
Match Prediction: India might start as favorites against Pakistan in this high-pressure game.
India Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (VC), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Prasidh Krishna, Sanju Samson (backup).
Pakistan squad: Babar Azam (c), Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Haris, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Saud Shakeel, Tayyab Tahir (travelling reserve).
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