Preview: Anticipation high as India and Pakistan lock horns once again

There is a lot at stake for both sides as they meet in their first game of the tournament. Considering the recent results against their neighbours, the No.1 ranked team in the MRF Tyres ICC Men's T20I team rankings, India, will be up against it at the MCG on Sunday.

India lost by 10 wickets to Pakistan in their group stage encounter in the T20 World Cup last year and that played a big part in knocking them out of the tournament early.

They met again in the Asia Cup a month back, not once but twice. Even though Rohit Sharma and his men won the first encounter, Pakistan squared things off in the second meeting. Both matches, however, went right down to the wire and lived up to the expectations of an India-Pakistan clash.

India have been in good form after their Asia Cup exit. They won the home series against Australia and South Africa, riding on the success of their batting line-up. But death bowling emerged as a major concern for them once Jasprit Bumrah got ruled out with a back injury. There was some improvement visible in the warm-up match against Australia, though.

India vs Pakistan, Key Battles

It has also been tough to find the right team balance in Ravindra Jadeja's absence but Axar Patel has solved that problem to some extent in recent games, at least with his bowling. Otherwise, the batting line-up looks pretty much settled for India but the absence of enough left-handed batters could be exploited by Pakistan.

Pakistan, on the other hand, are coming into this encounter with confidence on their side. They won a tri-series featuring New Zealand and Bangladesh recently and that served as good preparation for this mega event. Babar Azam and his men were also one of the semi-finalists in the last edition of the World Cup and they would want to go all the way this time.

The bowlers and the top order are firing on all cylinders for Pakistan. There was brief uncertainty around their ace pacer Shaheen Afridi's participation in the tournament but he is fully fit and firing as the warm-up match against Afghanistan showed.

The only concern for Pakistan, however, is their misfiring middle order. The likes of Fakhar Zaman, Khushdil Shah, Shan Masood and Iftikhar Ahmed haven't been in good form of late and they become highly unreliable whenever both Babar and Mohammad Rizwan fail to deliver. So, they need to step up to reduce Pakistan's over-dependency on Babar and Rizwan.

Fakhar Zaman is unavailable for this match as confirmed by Babar ahead of this fixture. "Shan Masood is fit. He is ready for the match tomorrow. Fakhar is not fully recovered. He will take 1 or 2 matches to recover," Babar revealed.

India
Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami

Pakistan
Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Shan Masood, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Asif Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Shaheen Afridi

Suryakumar Yadav: The middle-order batter has been in sensational batting form this year. He scored an excellent fifty in the warm-up game against Australia, which helped India to a six-run win. Suryakumar has amassed 1045 T20I runs so far, at a mind-blowing strike rate of 176.81.

Mohammad Rizwan: The wicketkeeper-batter has made it a habit of performing well against India. Rizwan has 193 T20I runs to his name against India in just three matches, at a sensational average of 96.50. Rizwan's role is going to be pretty crucial for Pakistan in this encounter as well.

Captaincy Pick: Suryakumar Yadav

Suryakumar Yadav is the kingpin of India's present T20I batting line-up. Despite suffering a few injuries, Suryakumar has managed to carry himself brilliantly in 2022. It would be a big challenge for the bowlers to stop his red-hot form. He scored successive half-centuries in the warm-up matches against Western Australia XI and Australia to prep himself up for the big challenge.

Must-have: Mohammad Rizwan
Rizwan has been the most consistent batter for Pakistan, scoring the most runs in 2022 in T20Is - 821 runs in 18 matches. Rizwan is coming off a good showing in the tri-series against Bangladesh and New Zealand. He scored 201 runs in the three-team series with two fifties to his name. Rizwan has a good track record against India in the three T20Is played in the past with 193 runs at 96.50 and a strike rate of 130.41.

Differential Pick: Mohammed Shami
Shami is a surprising pick in India's T20 World Cup squad. If not for an injury to Jasprit Bumrah, Shami wouldn't have been in the T20I side. Shami bowled a breathtaking 20th over, taking thee wickets in four balls, when he was asked to defend 10 runs in the warm-up game against Australia and could be in India's starting XI. The Indian pacer has picked 18 wickets in 17 T20Is at an average of 31.56.