India and Pakistan will begin their T20 World Cup 2022 campaign on October 23, Sunday, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Every cricket fan on the planet has been waiting for the arch-rivals to clash, but there has been no confirmation of the game taking place due to the rain forecast in Melbourne.
After three days of nonstop rain, the rains finally stopped a day before the game, but heavy rain is still expected on match day. If the weather conditions favor the two teams, the competition will begin. The previous edition of the T20 World Cup saw India lose to Pakistan, but the Men in Blue are currently in fantastic form.
Since the last world cup, India and Pakistan have met twice, both times during the Asia Cup 2022. Both games were nail-biters, with the teams winning in the final over, keeping everyone on the edge of their seats. While India defeated Pakistan in the continental event’s group stage, Pakistan came back to finish second.
So far, India and Pakistan have played 11 T20Is, with the Men in Blue winning eight of the eleven games. Notably, two of Pakistan’s three victories over India have occurred within the last year. While Pakistan is coming off a Tri-series victory over New Zealand and Bangladesh earlier this month, India is coming off a couple of T20I series victories at home, as well as wins in practice and warmup matches.
Predicted Playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Surya kumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh.
Predicted Playing XI: Babar Azam (C), Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Haider Ali, Asif Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah