Here Are Pakistan and India’s Expected Line-ups in 2022 T20 World Cup Clash

The first round of the T20 World Cup 2022 finished with four teams advancing to the Super 12 rounds, which are set to begin as 2021 World Cup finalists, Australia and New Zealand square off today in Sydney.

The much-anticipated match of the event between Pakistan and India will be played on Sunday, October 23, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground if the weather in the city permits as the chance of rainfall is still around 25 percent.

Both sides met twice this year in the Asia Cup, with India defeating Pakistan by five wickets in the group stage game and the Men in Green defeating the Rohit Sharma-led side by the same margin in the Super 4s stage.

The arch-rivals will be hesitant this time to wave their flags high to maintain their domination, as their group includes two tough sides, South Africa and Bangladesh, along with Zimbabwe and the Netherlands, and only two top teams will advance to the semi-finals.

As October 23 approaches, cricket fans across the world are in a frenzy, and everyone is speculating about which players will make their way to the playing eleven. However, the management of both sides have been reluctant to reveal their strategies ahead of the high-octane clash.

It is unclear which combination Babar Azam will deploy, but it will now depend on the fitness of left-handed batters Shan Masood and Fakhar Zaman, as their availability is still in doubt. This provides a predicament as what would be the combination in their absence.

In the absence of Fakhar and Masood, the Men in Green may field four pacers and two spinners, with Iftikhar serving as the third spinner. Haider Ali will most likely play one-down to provide support to the openers if one of them fails.

Mohammad Nawaz and Shadab Khan have shown glimpses of outstanding form, and they will most likely follow Haider Ali at four and five, respectively, but Shabad’s stats provide him a slight advantage over Nawaz for the fourth slot. The explosive Asif Ali will undoubtedly be in the team as a finisher.

Shaheen and Rauf will be expected again to repeat the story of the 2021 T20 World Cup against India, while Naseem Shah and Mohammad Wasim Jr. appear to be in great touch, so the skipper will be keen to make the most of their service.

Rohit-Sharma, on the other hand, may be interested in the same side he used in the warm-up game against Australia, but the only selection dilemma will be between the two wicket-keepers, Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant.

Only bad luck can keep the top three batters out of the lineup, as Rohit, along with KL Rahul, will begin the innings to face ‘Shahs’ in the first spell and will make the ground for the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya.

Virat Kohli, on the other hand, will take care of his responsibility of batting at number 3 to prevent the side from collapsing as he did against Pakistan in the 2021 World Cup when the top-order failed in the first spell.

Although, Axar Patel is a solid possibility as a left-arm spinner, but Rohit will likely pick Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin, both of whom were outstanding with the ball against Australia, conceding only 28 runs each.

Mohammed Shami will lead the pace unit and the service of Bhuvneshwar Kumar will undoubtedly be in the skipper’s mind, while the left-arm pacer, Arshdeep Singh, will be the third seamer in the line-up. 

Here are the possible Playing XI’s for Pakistan and India:

Check out T20 WC Live Score, complete 2022 T20 WC Schedule, and latest 2022 T20 World Cup Stats here!