India-Pak: The battle within

There is a saying ldquothe show is not over till the fat lady singsrdquo In the same manner at a cricket event the show does not begin till India take on archrivals PakistanIt is the day millions of cricket fans worldwide have been waiting for Indian skipper Virat Kohli may term todayrsquos T20 World Cup contest at Dubai Stadium as ldquojust another cricket matchrdquo but the fact remains it excites the supporters of both teams like no other event and passions run pretty high both inside the stadium and on the streetsIf thatrsquos not enough itrsquos a virtual battle on socalled social media much bitter than onfield action The players know that they have to shut out all distractions and concentrate on the game But itrsquos easier said than donelsquoFocus on cricketrsquoKohli during the prematch virtual media interaction said ldquoWe cannot cut off the hype completely There is huge atmosphere in the stadium and there is pressure like in every other game But as professionals we know we have to focus on cricket Our mindset and approach are no different from other gamesrdquo Also Read Sourav Ganguly on Virat Kohli relinquishing T20 captaincy Was his individual decision no pressure from BCCIUndoubtedly history and form are with India who have never lost to Pakistan in a World Cup game across T20 and 50over formats Talking about T20 games in general India have lost just one of the nine matches between the two of all places in Bangalore during a bilateral series in 2013Barring that aberration India have always dominated their rivals though there have been a couple of close finishes including the 2007 final in Johannesburg when India won the inaugural and their only T20 World title under current team mentor Mahendra Singh DhoniThe Men in Blue are pretty cocky whenever up against the green brigade But Pakistan captain Babar Azam who is in top form with two T20 centuries this year believes his team can break the World Cup jinx ldquoDefinitely we can break the jinx as we have played a lot of cricket in the UAErdquo Babar said when asked about Pakistanrsquos dismal 05 record against India in T20 World Cup clashes ldquoThese conditions suit us and we know how to play here We need to keep things simple in all departmentsrdquoKeeping things simple is not easy The Indian camp know that in a highprofile game things can change in a matter of minutes like it happened in the 2017 Champions Trophy final at The Oval London where for once Pakistan overwhelmed India in an ICC event thanks to a brilliant opening spell by Mohammed Amir Questions galoreGoing into the match there are questions galore about Indiarsquos XI Will they include offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin and Hardik Pandya who still has fitness issuesWill it be Suryakumar Yadav or Ishan Kishan at No4 And will India have Shardul Thakur as the sixth bowling option or go with an additional batsmanKohli kept his cards close to his chest and said ldquoI am not going to reveal the combination here but I can say that we have a balanced team and we are confident about execution of our plans in the middle We have assigned specific roles to the players so there is roleclarity for each playerrdquo 1Virat Kohli has been Indiarsquos top rungetter in the last two T20 World Cups scoring 319 runs in the 2014 edition and 273 in 2016Did you knowVirat Kohli has always stayed unbeaten in T20 World Cup matches v Pakistan His scores are 78 36 and 55Injury concernsIndian opener KL Rahul had a minor back issue during the second warmup match against Australia However it didnrsquot look serious as he batted without any discomfortPak fit and finePakistan have not reported any injury concerns among the 12 players selected for their first match Sarfaraz Ahmed Mohd Wasim and Mohd Nawaz have been left out for the opening fixtureAlso Read T20 World Cup India have serious matchwinners says Steve Smith