India vs Pakistan LIVE: After rain ruled out their final warm-up game against New Zealand, Team India reached Melbourne on Thursday. Rohit Sharma and the company opted to rest instead of practice before the Super 12 stage of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 gets up and running later this week. The Men in Blue will open their T20 World Cup campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on October 23. While most of India’s combinations are set and ready, questions still persist with the bowling department as Mohammad Shami has just bowled 1 over that too in a warm-up match and Harshal Patel has struggled a lot in the recent past. The other headache for Rahul Dravid and team management is the battle between veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal. Follow ICC T20 WC 2022 LIVE and IND vs PAK LIVE updates on Insidesport.IN
India vs Pakistan LIVE: No Practice on Thursday, 2 BIG DECISIONS still PENDING for Rohit Sharma & Rahul Dravid ahead of MEGA T20 World Cup clash, Check OUT
Also Read: India Playing XI vs Pakistan: Sunil Gavaskar picks his Playing XI for MEGA India vs Pakistan clash, Check how can Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik play together, Check OUT (insidesport.in)
Perth ✔️
Brisbane ✔️
Preparations ✔️We are now in Melbourne for our first game! #TeamIndia #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/SRhKYEnCdn
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 20, 2022
Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid will need to decide between Mohammad Shami and Harshal Patel for the third seamer because Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh are almost certain to play vs Pakistan. The pacer who will make the cut will have to split the death bowling duties with Arshdeep Singh. Notably, Bhuvi has struggled at the death to keep things tight.
India Playing XI vs PAK: Harshal Patel or Mohammad Shami?
- Ever since he returned from injury, Harshal Patel has had trouble finding his form. His slower balls have been very predictable.
- Despite his success in the last two matches against Western Australia XI and Australia, there is still some uncertainty.
- He came back and contributed 2/27 in India’s loss to WA-XI.
- In three overs against Australia in the official ICC T20 World Cup 2022 warm-up match, Harshal gave up 30 runs for a single wicket.
- More significantly, the 31-year-old kept India in the game by allowing just five runs in the penultimate over.
- Even though he just bowled one over after returning to T20s for the first time since the IPL 2022 final, Mohammad Shami nonetheless stole the show.
- Off the last over, he successfully protected 11 runs.
- The veteran bowled out his lone over for 3/4, hitting three superb yorkers to spoil what undoubtedly appeared to be an Australia victory.
- Shami is a favourite to make the starting XI vs Pakistan due to his experience and performance against Australia in the final over.
- The only bowling that Shami did in the last three months, was that final over.
- Only after India’s final nets session on Saturday will a choice be made between Harshal and Shami.
India vs Pakistan LIVE: Ravichandran Ashwin or Yuzvendra Chahal?
- Yuzvendra Chahal rose from the ashes after a brilliant performance in the IPL 2022.
- Chahal improved his abilities after being left off of India’s T20 World Cup 2021 roster.
- The 32-year-old won the IPL 2022 purple cap with 27 wickets in 17 games.
- Chahal has taken 22 wickets in 19 innings since the 2021 T20 World Cup with an average of 22.77.
- Additionally, he has kept his economy at a solid 7.53.
- Due to his dismal performance in the previous two series, questions have started to raise about his place.
- He only took 4 wickets in as many games during the Asia Cup, with a 7.93 surrendering average.
- He was expensive against Australia, leaking at 9.12 for just two wickets in three games.
- For the T20 World Cup 2021, Ravichandran Ashwin was called back up to the Indian T20 team. But it didn’t go as planned.
- Although he played well in the New Zealand series, he was then cut from the T20 team.
- The seasoned off-spinner performed admirably in the IPL 2022. He took 12 wickets for 7.51 economy in 17 games.
- He then unexpectedly reclaimed the spot for Asia Cup 2022.
- It was once again a mediocre effort by his standards with two wickets in two games at 7.37 in the continental tournament.
- Since then, he has only taken one wicket in three games, with an economy rate of 6.66.
- It’s his restrictive bowling that has troubled batters and helped other bowlers go for wickets.
India Playing XI vs Pakistan
- Rohit Sharma (Captain)
- KL Rahul
- Virat Kohli
- Suryakumar Yadav
- Hardik Pandya
- Dinesh Karthik
- Axar Patel
- Ravichandran Ashwin / Yuzvendra Chahal
- Bhuvneshwar Kumar
- Mohammad Shami/ Harshal Patel
- Arshdeep Singh
India T20 WC Squad: 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: Mohammed Siraj, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Shardul Thakur.
