India vs Pakistan Match Today 9.30 pm

India vs Pakistan Match

(10th Twenty20 at Durban,09:30 PM, Fri, 14 Sep 2007 )

Team India

The eyes of one billion people will be on the Indian team in South Africa as arguably the world’s most passionate cricketing nation hopes for national pride to be restored following its desperately disappointing CWC 2007 campaign.

A sole win over Bermuda was all India had to show for its efforts in the Caribbean, with defeats to both Bangladesh and Sri Lanka dumping the side out in the first round of the competition.However, there is no doubting the side’s ability with both bat and ball, although it will need to find early form in the ICC World Twenty20 with the draw pitching India against Pakistan in the group stages.

India’s batting line-up is looking a little less impressive than usual without the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, the leading ODI run scorer of all time, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, but there are few more spectacular and destructive hitters than captain Mahendra Dhoni, and the new faces in the team will all be looking to make a lasting impact.

The all round abilities of Yuvraj Singh, which saw him nominated for the ICC ODI Player of the Year 2006, will be vital to his team, while in terms of bowling, much pressure will fall on the likes of Ajit Ajarkar and Irfan Pathan, particularly as recent Test centurion Anil Kumble, the leading Indian ODI wicket taker of all time with 337 wickets, retired from the one day game at the end of the CWC 2007.

India was the last ICC full member to debut in Twenty20 Internationals and made an instant impact with a thrilling six-wicket victory over South Africa in Johannesburg, with the winning runs coming off the penultimate ball of the innings.

An unbeaten 31 from Dinesh Karthik, which clinched him the man of the match award, sealed the match for his team with his last-over six proving decisive in a game which saw India needing nine off the final over to win.

With its early CWC exit meaning that a number of leading international players had an unexpected opportunity to take part in their domestic Twenty20 competition, added to the experience gained by players on the English county circuit, and the confidence gained by a recent Test series win over England, India will be one of the favourites for the event.

Team Pakistan

The tragic death of Bob Woolmer will still be in the memory when the team travels to its former coach’s country of residence for the ICC World Twenty20.

Facing pool matches against traditional rival India, which should be one of the highlights of the group stages, and Scotland, who it beat by five wickets when the two sides met in an ODI in June 2006, the priority for Pakistan will be to progress to the next round. That’s something it has failed to do in the previous two ICC events.

Without former captain Inzaman-ul-Haq, who retired from the ODI form of the game at the end of the CWC 2007, the team will be looking to rely on the likes of captain Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan for runs, as well as Imran Nazir, whose stunning 160 against Zimbabwe was one of the few highlights of its Caribbean adventure.

Shahid Afridi’s explosive batting is perfectly suited for the short form of the game, as he illustrated on his last visit to South Africa, when he scored what was the eighth fastest ODI fifty at Durban. He should be one of the players to watch at the event.

Pakistan will be also be hopeful of making an impact in the bowling department with the return of speedsters Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, who missed the CWC 2007, to the side for South Africa.

Pakistan has enjoyed mixed fortunes in its previous Twenty20 Internationals, defeating England and losing to South Africa.

Three wickets for Abdul Razzaq helped restrict England to 144-7 at Bristol in August 2006, before Mohammad Hafeez’s 46 off 40 balls helped Pakistan to a five-wicket victory, although it was man of the match Afridi who stole the show with a stunning 28 off 10 balls.

However, Pakistan was to suffer an extremely heavy defeat against South Africa at Johannesburg in February 2007 when it was thrashed by 10 wickets.

Pakistan struggled to reach 129-8 off its 20 overs, which the home side then knocked off in just 11.3 overs with Graeme Smith scoring 71* off 11.3 overs. By worldtwenty20.yahoo.com