India face Pakistan in sensational T20 today

FAKIR SYED IQTIDARUDDIN 

KARACHI: Pakistan take on India in a charged up Super Eights match at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday. 

The excitement has doubled as citizens have made arrangements to watch the match in large parks, public places, cinemas and restaurants, with multimedia projectors, LCDs and LED TVs for live coverage of the event. 

In Lahore, the viewing of the match has been planned at Falcon Complex, Hotel Maisonette, Royal Palm, Mall of Lahore, MEC Bedian Road, Sozo World, Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, National Park and Bagh-e-Jinnah. Tickets range from Rs 500 to Rs 1,200. 

Not only that people at home are also geared up with their hearts racing for the mother of all matches. 

Pakistan-India matches always bring out the best in the players and stoke sentiments on both sides of the fence. 

Pakistan have not beaten India in a World Cup or T20 match so far. 

Although they beat India in a warm-up match by 5 wickets chasing a total of 186, Pakistan batting needs a lot to be desired. 

On Friday, they almost lost the match chasing 133 against South Africa until Umar Gul and Umar Akmal managed to save the day. 

India were unplayable against England in their group match. 

They need to win this match...by a big margin. Dhoni's five-bowler strategy has backfired. With a strong spin attack in R Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh and Piyush Chawala that did nothing against Australia on Friday, their fast bowling seems out of form in Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan. 

On the other hand, Pakistan is strong in its spin attack. Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi and Muhammad Hafeez have performed well. 

India's batting has been one of the best. They can destroy any attack, however, the absence of match-winner Virender Sehwag might go in favour of Pakistan. He could have helped turn their run rate around, which took a real bashing. 

Dhoni might include the opener in the hi-octane game. 

As far as Pakistan's batting is concerned, Shahid Afridi seems out of form but it is hoped that he will perform against the Indian bowling. 

Hoping the weather will stay clear, and Pakistan doesn't make too many mistakes, it will be a great contest to watch. 

Teams: 

Pakistan 

Mohammad Hafeez*, Abdul Razzaq, Asad Shafiq, Imran Nazir, Kamran Akmal†, Mohammad Sami, Nasir Jamshed, Raza Hasan, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul, Yasir Arafat 

India

MS Dhoni*†, G Gambhir, R Ashwin, L Balaji, PP Chawla, AB Dinda, Harbhajan Singh, Z Khan, V Kohli, IK Pathan, SK Raina, V Sehwag, RG Sharma, MK Tiwary, Yuvraj Singh