🏏Cricket World Cup 2023: Match #12: India vs Pakistan🏏Thread #1

🏏 Cricket World Cup 2023: Match #12: India vs Pakistan 🏏

India are going to face their arch-rivals Pakistan in Match 12 of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium today.

The highly anticipated clash will be watched by 1,30,000 spectators at the stadium and by crores on their TV sets and digital devices.

India's start as favorites for the match as they are playing at home. They are also the men in form, having started the World Cup campaign with wins over Australia and Afghanistan.

At the same time, Pakistan beat the Netherlands and Sri Lanka to continue their winning run in the tournament.

Babar Azam and Co. will be looking to end India's winning streak in the ODI World Cups.

India has never lost to Pakistan in the history of the tournament, enjoying a 7-0 lead heading into the contest. The head-to-head statistics add a little more spice to already strong World Cup rivalries.

India and Pakistan...they're wow-worthy enough as highly talented teams!!

Put them on a cricket field, and they breathe a very different life into the game with their shared history, geography, culture, and even jingoism!!

But it is not the Greatest Rivalry in the 'Greatest Cricket World Cup ever' without the scope and scale of this two-pointer game getting wider.

For their talent and capabilities, they remain a team that can still be governed by emotions on the field. They drive away from it but can also succumb to it!!

In the heat of the final exchanges at the MCG last year, it was Shadab Khan and not Babar moving fielders around, setting plays, and generally taking over decision-making, with even Hardik Pandya, the batter, helping position the third-man fielder properly.

India dealt with the chaos slightly better. They've won a home World Cup before, and their players are far too far along the path of the process to be easily swayed.

Here is the much awaited excitement for all of us for which we are waiting for long!!

Tags Credit: Sutapasima

IND vs PAK Probable Playing XIs

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan / Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Lokesh Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

Pakistan: Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf.

Weather Report

As per AccuWeather, the rain chances during the game time of India vs Pakistan at the venue are zero as of now. The temperature in Ahmedabad is expected to be hot, around 35 to 40 degrees, while it will come down to 26 degrees in the evening.

What to expect: A sweltering day with a high of 36 degrees Celsius is forecast to welcome the fielding team at the match start. The reward for that discomfort is the possibility of dew making batting much easier in the second half, as Pakistan observed two nights out from the game. The pitch on match Eve seemed like a black soil one with a slight green tinge left to help with the binding. If it plays anything like it did on the opening day and is expected to, teams will need a score in the region of 330–340 to feel somewhat secure.

Rohit vs Afridi

"First up, the key battle is going to be between the opening batter and the bowler. So, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Rohit Sharma are going to be in a key battle because of the manner in which Rohit Sharma is playing fearless cricket. And especially the last time India played against Pakistan, he had taken the attack to them along with Shubman Gill, and they really charged at all three pacers, scoring at a fast pace in those first 10 overs," said Sanjay Bangar, who shared his views on what would make up the key battles in tomorrow’s match.

Babar on India's 7-0 streak

"I don't want to focus on what has happened in the past. I want to keep my focus on what's to come. Records are made to be broken. We will try to break this too. We are hoping to come up with a good performance tomorrow. India vs Pakistan depends a lot on who does well on the big day. I have belief that my boys will be able to step up on the day," Babar Azam said, speaking of India's 7-0 record in 50-over World Cups.

Team Watch:

India: Shubman Gill pushed himself to practice for half-an-hour two days out from the game. On the day before the game, skipper Rohit Sharma said 99%, when asked about Gill's availability. Gill joined the team for practice on match eve but a call on his participation is likely to be taken only closer to the game. Meanwhile, with spin to have a lesser say in the contest, Shardul Thakur is expected to hold on to his place ahead of Ravichandran Ashwin.

Tactics & Strategy

Kuldeep Yadav vs Babar Azam was a marquee contest that didn't see the light of day in the Asia Cup after the left-arm spinner produced a ball for the ages in Manchester. Kuldeep has dismissed the Pakistan skipper twice in 18 balls bowled at him.

How Pakistan's batting ace shrugs off his lukewarm run in ODIs this year [Avg: 38.06, SR: 78.68] and wades through the crucial middle overs of spin from Kuldeep could well define Pakistan's batting effort. Watch out also for how India's middle order, with an overhauled approach from four years ago, matches up against Pakistan's misfiring spin duo of Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz.

Team Watch

Pakistan: Babar's side have a clean bill of health and are unlikely to ring in any change to the team that beat Sri Lanka.

Tactics & Strategy

Shaheen Afridi was the architect of Pakistan's most significant moment in any World Cup match against India when he packed off Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul in a stunning opening spell in Dubai two years ago. He will be tasked with creating a similar impact against an imposing, but right-heavy batting line-up susceptible to his left-arm angle.

Probable XI: Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf

Thanks for the tag Madhuri

Come on India Dhikhado 🇮🇳🏏🫡

Did you know?

- Rohit Sharma has hit 23 sixes in the PowerPlay in ODIs played this year. Pakistan has hit none. In fact, Pakistan have not hit a single six in the Powerplay phase in their last 20 ODIs.

- Virat Kohli has been dismissed for a sub-50 score only once in eight World Cup [ODI + T20] games against Pakistan. That was in 2011.

- Since the start of this millennium, Pakistan has held a 9-7 head-to-head record in ODIs in and against India.

When is the concert? 🎺🎸🎤