For millions of cricket fans, the result of the India vs Pakistan match on Sunday could well be the culmination of the Champions Trophy fever. While the high octane clash in Dubai would only be the fifth of the eight-team tournament, for many, the result in the Emirates would make or break the fans and players - especially from Pakistan.
The hosts, who had to travel to UAE due to India’s refusal to play in Pakistan citing security reasons, have already stumbled and suffered defeat in their opening match against New Zealand in Karachi. India, on the other hand, kick-started their campaign with a comprehensive six-wicket win against Bangladesh.
Pakistan cannot afford to lose another match as it will dash their hopes of reaching the knockout stages of the eight-team event.
During a media interaction on Friday, Pakistan pacer Haris Rauf said the Pakistan players were confident about their chances of winning the match.
All the boys are feeling well and are focussed on our next match. There is no extra pressure in the India-Pakistan match, all the players feel relaxed. It is a regular match and we are taking it just like that.
Rauf added Pakistan go into the game taking immense confidence from the fact that they had defeated India at the same Dubai International Stadium in T20 matches in 2021 and 2022.
No doubt those two wins against India will motivate the players and we all are hoping to emulate our performance in those matches on Sunday and win this match too.
Pakistan head coach Aaqib Javed said, they will bank on their strengths and not make many changes to their playing eleven, barring the omission of opener Fakhar Zaman owing to an injury.
We have to play our cricket on our own strength. Our team will not see any major changes. We have selected a team based on our beliefs. We will back this team. Our fast-bowling options are the best. These are the match winners. It’s not necessary to follow the same strategy as the other teams. These are match winners, so other teams don’t need to do the same.
While Pakistan players will take motivation from their twin wins in T20 matches in Dubai, the Indians will be banking on the brilliant recent form that has seen them produce a dominant unbeaten run to the final of the 2023 ICC ODI World Cup at home, triumph in the T20 World Cup in 2024 and thrashing to the England team in the white-ball series preceding the Champions Trophy.
Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, and Shreyas Iyer are batters who have done well in the last few matches while pacer Mohammed Shami proved he is regaining the form that made him the highest wicket-taker of the 2023 World Cup with a superb fifer against Bangladesh.
Gill, who hit an unbeaten 101, his second successive ODI century, against Bangladesh, said the side that rotates the strike well in the middle overs has a better chance of winning the match. In that match, Gill laid the anchor at one end even as the pitch became sluggish in the middle overs due to no dew at the venue.
In the last match, the dew didn't come that much. So definitely, when the dew doesn't come under lights, it is not easy to bat on slow wickets. It's not easy to rotate the strike. Whatever matches we play here, the key will be that whichever team rotates well in the middle overs – between the 11th to the 40th over, has a better chance of winning.
He also felt the toss doesn’t have a big role to play in Dubai, as it won’t make much of a difference in the overall result. With the Indians taking confidence from having played a match at the venue, Pakistan will be hoping to exploit the conditions as they have for years played their home matches in the UAE when international teams had refused to travel to Pakistan.
Squads
Pakistan: Mohammad Rizwan (captain), Salman Ali Agha (vice captain), Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Tayyab Tahir, Faheem Ashraf, Khushdil Shah, Usman Khan, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi.
India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill (vice captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakravarthy.
