Match details
India vs Pakistan
New York, 10.30am local
Big picture: Make-or-nearly-break for Pakistan
So, here we go, again. India appear stable. Pakistan not so much. It’s often been that way in the lead-up to the most-anticipated fixture of the World Cup.
Form guide
India WWWWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Pakistan LLLWW
Pitch and conditions: Which pitch and how will it play?
One of the consequences of creating an international cricket stadium on park land in record time is that the quality of drop-in pitches, which were grown in Florida and transported to New York, has been substandard.
South Africa dismissed Sri Lanka for 77 on pitch No. 1 and chased down the target with some difficulty. India dismissed Ireland for 96 on pitch No. 4 two days later. In that match, Harry Tector, Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant were hit on the body, with unpredictable bounce, exaggerated seam movement, and a slow outfield making run-scoring extremely difficult. Following widespread criticism, the ICC acknowledged the problem and said it was trying to find a fix.
On Friday, Canada became the first team to score more than 100 in New York, and defended their score of 137 by 12 runs against Ireland on pitch No. 4. South Africa played Netherlands on a fresh surface – pitch No. 2 – on Saturday. Netherlands scored only 103 for 9 but South Africa were 12 for 4 before eventually winning by four wickets. David Miller, however, said pitch no. 2 played better than pitch no. 1. So India and Pakistan are likely to play on pitch no. 4 or 2.
Fast bowlers have dominated the games so far in New York. With Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Amir and Haris Rauf lining up for Pakistan, and Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya lining up for India, batters on both sides could be in for a battle unless conditions somehow turn out to be dramatically different.
The weather in New York was sunny on the eve of the match, but some weather websites have forecast showers for Sunday morning.
Team news
India are likely to play the same XI that beat Ireland by eight wickets with 46 balls to spare.
India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Rishabh Pant (wk), 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Jasprit Bumrah, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Mohammed Siraj
Imad Wasim did not play Pakistan’s game against USA due to a rib-cage injury, but head coach Gary Kirsten said he is fit and will play against India. Azam Khan, who made a golden duck in Dallas, could get dropped.
Pakistan (probable): 1 Mohammed Rizwan (wk), 2 Babar Azam (capt), 3 Usman Khan, 4 Fakhar Zaman, 5 Shadab Khan, 6 Iftikhar Ahmed, 7 Imad Wasim, 8 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 9 Naseem Shah, 10 Mohammad Amir, 11 Haris Rauf
In the spotlight
Babar Azam had a shocker against USA: 4 off 14 balls in the powerplay, 24 balls before his first boundary, and dismissed for 44 off 43 just when Pakistan desperately needed him to continue the momentum he had only recently wrested. He was also unable to galvanise his team in the field, and they stumbled from blunder to blunder to an embarrassing defeat. Having stepped down as captain in November, only to be reinstated in March, Babar’s leadership could come under severe scrutiny if Sunday doesn’t go Pakistan’s way.
India picked Shivam Dube in the XI primarily as a left-hand disruptor of spin in the middle overs. He isn’t likely to face much of that against Pakistan though. Dube wasn’t a particularly good player of fast bowling but he’s worked on that weakness with the Chennai Super Kings and averaged 44 with a strike rate of 164 against pace in IPL 2024. If he passes the test against Afridi, Naseem, Rauf and Amir, he will put that debate to rest.
Stats and trivia
- In the first four T20 World Cup matches played in New York, fast bowlers have taken 45 wickets and spinners only 10. Teams have bowled 115.2 overs of pace, and only 27.2 overs of spin at this venue.
Quotes
“This is the uniqueness of T20 cricket. Anything can happen anywhere. In the last World Cup, Pakistan lost to Zimbabwe. But eventually they played the final.”
Rohit Sharma on whether India are wary of a mercurial Pakistan comeback.
“It’s a big game India- Pakistan, there’s no need for me to motivate the team anymore. They are well-motivated, they are focused for this game. We have to forget about the last couple of days and just move forward, that’s the only way you can deal with life.”
Head coach Gary Kirsten is on the Pakistan side of this rivalry for the first time.
George Binoy is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo
