New Delhi: India’s clash against Pakistan is the T20 World Cup’s most anticipated clash in more ways than one. And now that it will go ahead as per schedule on Sunday in Colombo after a pull-out threat from Pakistan, the International Cricket Council would heave a sigh of relief.
Not only does the tournament’s financials depend on this match, which if it didn’t happen could have set a dangerous precendent of politics winning over sport in an environment that is already heavily pliticised.
With Pakistan agreeing after conducting crisis talks with ICC, seeking ‘justice’ for Bangladesh for being kicked out after refusal to play in India, focus is now thankfully back on the field rather than boardroom politics.
Both teams have won their opening two matches though not all of them convincingly but India are on top of the group with a superior run-rate.
Being the defending champions enjoying a 7-1 head to head tournament record in the crunch clash, India would hope to press the pedal from the very first ball.
Their dashing opener Abhishek Sharma has given them flying starts and could return after skipping their Namibia win in Delhi with a stomach infection.
On the biggest stage with billions of eyeballs on him, the left hander would have to handle pressure as much as the Pakistan bowlers.
“If you play any game, there is always pressure. And when you play an India-Pakistan game it’s more about the occasion,” India skipper Suryakumar Yadav said in his pre-match chat with the press on Saturday.
“It’s a big platform obviously. No matter how much you say that it’s just another game, back of the mind, human tendency is that you know which game you are going to play.
“And we don’t play them often as well. At the end of the day, we try to keep things simple. Whatever hard work we have done, whatever practice we have been doing, we try to execute it in the games.”
His combination with the in-form Ishan Kishan could set up the game for India, though they have to negate late order wobble and Pakistan’s unpredictable spinner Usman Tariq.
Similarly Pakistan’s batters, spearheaded by Sahibzada Farhan, also have to deal with an Indian bowling attack that boast of multiple match winners in Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav, shoud he get picked in place of Rinku Singh.
Match starts at 7pm.
Head-to-head
Total matches – 16 | Pakistan won – 3 | India won – 13
West Indies face Nepal
West Indies would look to consolidate their top spot in Group C with a victory over Nepal at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.
With back to back wins, the Caribbeans would be confident of topping the group, having beaten Scotland and England and with their final match being against Italy, who have beaten Nepal.
The two-time title champions have had multiple players performing in their opening two matches and coach Darren Sammy would ask them to continue in the same vein.
Nepal have beaten West Indies twice in previous meetings and would draw confidence from it.
Match starts at 11am.
Head-to-head
Total matches – 3 | West Indies won – 1 | Nepal won – 2
USA meet Namibia
USA would be keen to build on their victory over the Netherlands when they face Namibia in what is a must-win Group A for them.
They were beaten in their first two matches but won against the Dutch by 93 runs, the biggest winning margin by runs for an Associate team in T20 World Cup history.
Namibia have slumped to successive defeats and stare at elimination unless they show will need significant improvement with the bat, specifically against spin and bowling in the death overs.
Match starts: 3pm.
Head-to-head
Total matches – 2 | USA won – 2 | Namibia won – 0