With India and Pakistan cruising towards Super 8 stage after two wins each, the result of Sunday’s clash won’t affect their progress, but the off-field boycott issue and uncertainty over post-match handshake has spiced things up
India head coach Gautam Gambhir (second from right) has a word with skipper Suryakumar Yadav (right) near the pitch at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Saturday. Pic/PTI
From Durban to Mirpur and Melbourne to New York, India and Pakistan have traversed the length and the breadth of the cricket world, squaring off against each other in eight T20 World Cup clashes. The ninth showdown has culminated in a Colombo stop, India seeking to make it 8-1 and Pakistan desperate to reduce the unflattering scoreline to 2-7 at the Premadasa Stadium on Sunday.
Rain threat
This match nearly didn’t happen; it still might not if the weather forecast takes an uglier turn and the chances of precipitation increase from between 33 and 51% from 6.30 pm to 11.30 pm to something more serious. That will be both a massive disappointment and a huge irony, given how many forces have been brought into play to convince Pakistan to overturn their February 1 decision to boycott this encounter in solidarity with an aggrieved Bangladesh.
Players from both sides will vociferously claim otherwise, but it is impossible that they wouldn’t have been affected by the off-field developments. As if there weren’t enough subtexts to matches involving these teams is the significant question of whether India’s players will veer from their stance at the Asia Cup in September and offer to shake hands with their Pakistani counterparts. And, if they do so, how Salman Agha and his men will react to that.
On the face of it, this Group A contest doesn’t have too much riding from a qualification perspective. Both sides are sitting on two wins apiece; India have a game against the Netherlands to follow and Pakistan run into Namibia in their final group matches and barring the remarkably unforeseen, should advance unscathed to the Super Eights. But when has any India-Pakistan cricket match been short on context?
India will deliberate long and hard on whether they should risk Abhishek Sharma, the No. 1 T20I batter in the world, who is just about recovering from a stomach infection, who had a reasonably long hit at the nets on Saturday evening. And how and how much they should rejig their combination in the conditions likely to confront them.
Spin-friendly pitch
The Premadasa has traditionally been slow, low and spin-friendly; Pakistan have five excellent spinners, including the old new turk, the 30-year-old Usman Tariq, whose action has attracted as much attention as his pause-and-deliver off-spin. Do India bring Kuldeep Yadav and Washington Sundar into the mix, ahead of Arshdeep Singh and Rinku Singh/Sanju Samson in deference to the conditions? Or do they play their best XI, regardless? Welcome to the world of intrigue.
73.33
India’s winning percentage at the R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo; India have won 11 out of 15 T20Is here
2015
The year Pakistan last played a T20I at the R Premadasa Stadium. Overall, they’ve won five out of seven ties
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