India Vs. Pakistan: Key Battles To Watch Out For; Playing XI & Preview

India will face off against their bitter rivals Pakistan in the ongoing T-20 World Cup 2024 on Sunday, 9 June. The match will take place at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, New York from 8 PM IST. Both the teams will play their second match in the tournament but their morals will be different as India will all be boosted with their opening win while Pakistan would have to compensate for their close defeat against USA in their first match.

The intense rivalry will have its peak action on Sunday as the pitches in the USA conditions are arguably bowlers friendly; though game between Canada vs Ireland game on Friday was an exception as it showed balance between bowl and bat, it seems like the conditions are getting better. Pakistan would be charged up with their pace attack which includes, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Amir & Haris Rauf while India could not ask a better opening pair; Virat Kohli & Rohit Sharma to knock down the first few pace overs. It is said that the batters can take charge once they get through the first half of the innings.

Key Battles To Watch Out For: 

Rohit Sharma Vs Left Arm Pacers

Rohit Sharma & Left Arm Pacers is an whole different & old rivalry, while here Pakistan has two best in the business, Shaheen & Amir to do the job. Rohit will have to capitalise them especially in the first few overs.

Virat Kohli Vs. Haris Rauf

It feels like yesterday when Virat Kohli hit those sixes to Haris Rauf at MCG Ground in the T-20 World Cup 2022 to help India win the match. Haris Rauf was blamed for the defeat in the Pakistan's deck, though he is one of the class bowlers and someone who has a tough history with Virat Kohli; he would definately eye for the revenge.

Arshdeep Singh Vs. Pakistan Top Order

Arshdeep has featured in three T20I matches against Pakistan. He owns six wickets at an average of 15.33. His economy rate is 7.88. His best performance is 3/32. His record against Babar Azam & Rizwan, two backbones of Pakistan is something they need to be careful of.

Predicted Playing XI: 

India- Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Siraj

Pakistan- Babar Azam (C), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Usman Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan/Saim Ayub, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Amir, Haris Rauf