T20 World Cup: Confident India hoping to turn the tables on Pakistan

Their unblemished record of success against the arch-rivals at marquee ICC events a thing of the past, a hurt Indian team will be desperate for revenge against a high-quality Pakistan side in a sell-out Super 12 clash of the T20 World Cup in Melbourne on Sunday.

While rain is threatening to play spoilsport, it’s unlikely to be a complete washout according to people who understand weather conditions here.

Thousands of fans from both countries have criss-crossed the globe to watch their team in action and trust rival captains Rohit Sharma and Babar Azam to tell you this is another ‘match’ for them. But all the 22 players and the reserves know that this is ‘The Match’.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, under whom, India never lost to Pakistan at ICC events, would repeat himself time and again that there is no place for the word ‘revenge’ in a cricket field.

But a lot has changed in the past one year since Shaheen Shah Afridi in an intimidating opening spell gave Pakistan their first victory in a World Cup across formats.

It wasn’t just a match won or a voodoo broken but that 3-31 by Shaheen was also successful in bruising the egos of some of contemporary cricket world’s biggest batting stalwarts.

While Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli or KL Rahul aren’t the ones to forget last year’s humiliation in Dubai easily, the fact remains that India as a team have looked slightly under-cooked in recent times.

And at least on Sunday, the ‘Men In Blue’ wouldn’t start as favourites in the ‘mother of all clashes’.

The BCCI’s statement that India will not travel to Pakistan to play the Asia Cup and the subsequent PCB threat of pulling out of 50-over World Cup in India has only made the atmosphere more politically charged and vicious.

India wouldn’t mind going into a match as underdogs and it will be Pakistan, who will have to live up to the high expectations.

Combination is still a worry for India

This has been a trend with the Indian team for some time now — not having a settled combination. In 2019, they didn’t have a number four even after two years in the run-up to the meet.

And now, one year after the last T20 World Cup, India might have to drop a specialist left-hander (Rishabh Pant) from the top five in order to accommodate an extra bowler.

The sameness in the batting line-up is a bit worrying as it would let Shaheen, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf bowl one line in the absence of Pant, who also has been a touch out of form.

How India’s top three handle Shaheen in the Powerplay would dictate how the match will pan out.

One man, who could perhaps take Shaheen head on is current No.1 T20 batter Suryakumar Yadav, who is someone who never changes his game irrespective of conditions or situations.

But in wet conditions, Rohit would pray that lady luck will shine on him and he would win the toss and may be opt to chase when his bowling line-up looks a bit scratchy.

While India have three spinners in the squad, there could be only one playing in the end if the persistent rains and a sharp dip in temperature, makes the conditions seamer-friendly.

MATCH STARTS: 12 PM UAE TIME