India will take on Pakistan in their T20 World Cup 2022 opener on October 23 in Melbourne.
The hype around the India-Pakistan match in the T20 World Cup 2022 is growing with less than 10 days to go for the blockbuster clash. In what is dubbed cricket’s greatest rivalry, India will lock horns with Pakistan on October 23 at the MCG.
The last time the two teams met off in a T20 World Cup tournament, Babar Azam and his team triumphed by 10 wickets, defeating Team India for the first time ever in a World Cup encounter.
Although Azam wasn’t at his best in the Asia Cup 2022, he has bounced back and has been in tremendous form since. Mohammad Rizwan on the other hand has been in an extraordinary knick, having amassed more than 750 runs in 17 T20Is this year.
To counter the threat posed by Pakistan's openers in the upcoming T20 World Cup match between the big rivals, former India pacer Irfan Pathan has counseled the Indian pacers to bowl at stumps.
”Don’t give them any width whatsoever, especially Rizwan, because he’s the guy who takes the Powerplay on his shoulders. Just try to get the pace going. Babar takes his time. So, you need to be aware of those situations and those batters,” Pathan said while speaking on Star Sports show Game Plan’.
“The line has to be on the stumps, with tight lines. And with both batters, the length changes slightly. When it comes to Rizwan, you can afford to bowl fuller. You can try to hit him beneath the knee roll. This is where your line and length can be.
”And when it comes to Babar Aazam, you need to get him out LBW, but your aim should not be on his front leg, it should be behind his leg because he’s slightly open. This is where Arshdeep and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar come in with that in-swinging delivery,” he explained further.
He also advised the Indian batters to make full use of the shorter straight boundaries at the MCG and emphasized running between the wickets.
”When you play at the MCG, the straight boundaries are not that big. It’s the side boundaries that are massive. Obviously, India needs to be smart, especially the batting.
”Probably, it will be difficult to hit the side boundaries, so they have to play the gaps and probably convert the twos into threes and ones into twos because running between the wickets will be very important,” he suggested.
(STAR SPORTS INPUTS)