T20 World Cup: Pakistan finalise strategy for blockbuster match against India

• The team management has planned to go into the match against the arch-rival with a combination of senior and experienced players.
• Skipper Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan will start Pakistan’s batting innings in the match.
• Experienced Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik will play their role to support the middle-order batting line.

KARACHI: Pakistan has finalised a strategy for the blockbuster match against arch-rival India in the upcoming match scheduled to be played on Sunday in the T20 World Cup.

Sources privy to the matter said that the Pakistan team will enter the ground with six batsmen, two spinners and three fast bowlers. All-rounder Muhammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik can also bowl if needed. Out of form Haider Ali is likely to be ruled out in the important match.

The team management has planned to go into the match against the arch-rival with a combination of senior and experienced players.

Skipper Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan will start Pakistan’s batting innings in the match while Fakhar Zaman will be launched at one down.

Experienced Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik will play their role to support the middle-order batting line. Asif Ali has been given the task of hitting and aggressive bating. Spinners Imad Wasim and Shadab Khan can also play an aggressive game.

Moreover, for Pakistan’s bowling attack, fast bowlers Shaheen Shah Afridi, Hassan Ali and Haris Rauf have been picked. It was decided that Muhammad Wasim junior will not be included in the match.

It is pertinent to mention here that dew falls in Dubai; hence, whoever will win the toss will likely prefer to bowl first.

'Pakistan depend very heavily on Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam'

A day earlier, Indian commentator Harsha Bhogle had said the Pakistan team was heavily reliant on its openers — wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan and skipper Babar Azam.

Bhogle, according to CrickWick, said: "Pakistan depend very heavily on Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam. They are wonderful players; Babar Azam is in tremendous form."

However, he pointed out that despite Pakistan's experienced middle-order batsmen, if India hit a couple of runs in the power play, it would be enough to defeat the Men In Green.

The commentator noted that as Pakistan has never won any World Cup match against India, the Babar Azam-led team will be under pressure, as the match will attract millions from across the globe.

“Of course, teams are going to be nervous but it’s a question of how you channel that nervousness. If it tightens you up, makes you unsure of yourself, then you have lost the game there. I think India might have an advantage on that front because a couple of times Pakistan has been nervous in the past,” Bhogle said.