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.
Not one, but twice, they ran into each other at the Asia Cup a month ago. Pakistan tied the game in the second match despite Rohit Sharma and his team winning the first match. But both games were intensely competitive and lived up to the hype around an India-Pakistan meeting.
India has been playing well since losing the Asia Cup. They capitalised on the performance of their batting lineup to win the home series against Australia and South Africa. But once Jasprit Bumrah's back injury forced him to miss the game, death bowling became a significant issue for them. However, there were encouraging signs of improvement in the exhibition game versus Australia.
Babar Azam is the captain of Pakistan in the competition, while Rohit Sharma leads India. The first game of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 will pit both sides against one another. The 16th match of the competition under the super 12 round is IND vs. PAK.
IND vs PAK Squads
India: Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami. Standby Players: Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj
Pakistan: Babar Azam (C), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Usman Qadir. Standby Players: Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Haris, Shahnawaz Dahani.
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