Colombo [Sri Lanka]February 15 (ANI): Pakistan won the toss and they have decided to play against India in the Group A match of the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
The intense match between India and Pakistan is taking place at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
After winning the toss, Pakistan captain Salman Agha said: “We want to bowl first. It looks a little tacky so we feel it will help the bowlers in the first few overs so we want to use it. We are relaxed in our group and are looking forward to this challenge. The court is larger than SSC and the field is slower than SSC. Same team for us,” Cricbuzz quoted.
Indian captain Suryakumar said: “Not at all, we wanted to bat first. We won the last two games defending, so we don’t want to change that. This is a chance, high stakes game. This sport teaches you a lot, either side can win the game on a given day. Two substitutions. Abhishek Sharma comes in and Kuldeep Yadav replaces Arshdeep Singh.”
In the history of the T20 World Cup, the main rivals have met each other eight times. The Men in Blue achieved seven victories while Pakistan won only one game.
Overall, both sides have faced each other 16 times in T20I cricket. India had 13 wins while the Men in Green had three.
Both India and Pakistan have played two matches in the tournament so far and have won their matches. While India entered the competition on the strength of victories over the United States of America and Namibia, Pakistan defeated the Netherlands and the United States.
The Suryakumar Yadav-led Indian team currently tops Group A with four points and a net run rate (NRR) of +3.050, while the Pakistani team is second with four points and an NRR of +0.932.
Playing lineups for both teams:
India (playing XI): Ishan Kishan (goalkeeper), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah.
Pakistan (XI): Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Agha (captain), Babar Azam, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Usman Khan (goalkeeper), Shaheen Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Usman Tariq. (ANI)
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