Arch-rivals India and Pakistan, the former T20 World Cup champions, will kickstart their 2022 campaign when they face off in a Group 2 Super 12s clash in Melbourne on Sunday, October 23.
With the opening round of the T20 World Cup 2022 nearing its end after having produced quite a few extraordinary results, the focus now shifts on the Super 12s stage, beginning Saturday, October 22.
India, the inaugural edition champions will be up against arch-rivals Pakistan, a team that they had defeated on each of the five occasions – including the 2007 final – until the T20 World Cup in the UAE last year, wherein Babar Azam’s men had registered a landmark 10-wicket win.
Ahead of another blockbuster contest, here’s a look at six factors that could potentially determine the eventual result:
“I can tell you how to get rid of Rohit Sharma right now and Babar was intrigued,” PCB chief revealed of his chat with Babar Azam ahead of the team’s departure for the T20 World Cup 2021 in the UAE last year. The ploy of having Shaheen Afridi “bowl that inswinging yorker at 100mph” had worked brilliantly, setting it up for a game-defining top-order collapse, as it had in the 2017 Champions Trophy final, wherein Mohammed Amir had taken the centrestage.
Shaheen has already made his presence felt in build-up to the competition, having floored Afghanistan’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz with a sering yorker during a warm-up game in Brisbane earlier this week. The all-round quality of the Pakistan fast-bowling unit will be up against an Indian top-order that has discovered a new-found intent over the last year or so, promising for an exciting contest to set things up.
The powerplay overs would be as crucial in the Pakistan innings too, with Babar and Mohammad Rizwan forming the core of the side’s batting with an unsettled middle-order to follow. India have genuine quality and variety with Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in their ranks, not to forget the left-arm spin of Axar Patel, which has proven to be highly efficient with the new ball in recent times.
The winner of the @Nissan Play of the Tournament from the 2021 ICC Men’s #T20WorldCup is:
Shaheen Afridi’s blistering opening spell against India 🔥 pic.twitter.com/uv94PnVd89
— ICC (@ICC) November 17, 2021
Sachin Tendulkar, who led India’s batting through a career spanning over two decades, did so in World Cup match-ups against Pakistan too, starring in each of India’s five wins between 1992 and 2011.
Since then, Virat Kohli, the successor in almost every sense, has been the batting mainstay for India in marquee tournaments against the sub-continent rivals. Kohli has aggregated 226 runs while being dismissed only once in four innings against Pakistan in T20 World Cups, the strike-rate of 126.25 being functions of the game-situations he’s batted in. In ODI World Cups, Kohli has registered scores of 9, 107 (Adelaide, 2015), 77 (Old Trafford, 2019).
Having notched up a much awaited 71st international hundred last month, and with runs in the recent home season, Kohli perhaps remains the most priced scalp for the 2009 champions as they seek to replicate last year’s brilliance.
Pakistan’s middle-order, sans the experience of Shoaib Malik, who has been overlooked for the competition hasn’t produced the goods collectively of late, and an untimely injury to Shan Masood further adds to the team’s anxiety. With Babar and Rizwan doing bulk of the scoring in recent times, either’s early dismissal could cause panic in the camp and the middle-order returns might well affect the game’s eventual result.
Rohit has mastered the art of putting on a squeeze through the middle overs of opponents’ T20 innings, as he has shown while leading the Mumbai Indians in the IPL and on occasions for India over the last year or so, and Yuzvendra Chahal’s wrist-spin expertise could further stiffen the challenge for Pakistan.
Pakistan have been significantly underwhelming in the field in recent times, and the lapses in the warm-up game against England present all the more worrying signs. It was a dropped chance to give Matthew Wade a reprieve in last year’s semi-final that proved to be fatal to their campaign, and it’s an area the team needs to work on.
India, meanwhile, certainly lack an X-factor in the field without the services of Ravindra Jadeja, who misses the competition with back injury. The Men in Blue too, haven’t been all that great in terms of catching, which hurt them during the Asia Cup last month and in the defeat to Australia in a high-scoring series opener in Mohali. Given the intense nature of the contest, it won’t come as a surprise if it all comes down to one piece of fielding brilliance, or to an untimely lapse.
The players might not care to admit it, and have underplayed the rivalry in recent times, but the sense of occasion has gotten the better of the very best over the years. Not many can relate it as well as Chetan Sharma, who failed to land an attempted yorker against Javed Miandad in a famous finish in Sharjah, or Misbah-ul-Haq, who admits “I mistimed the shot on which I had the most confidence” for the 2007 heartbreak.
Should the match go down to a thrilling finish, the temperament and the ability to soak pressure would matter more than the skills on show, and a capacitated MCG would add more to the sense of thrill and excitement.
The weather might well play a spoilsport, with fairly high chances of rain in Melbourne forecasted for Sunday. A shortened game or untimely interruptions could affect either team’s progress, and could bring the toss advantage into play.
