Pakistan will face India in their second and crucial match of the T20 World Cup 2024 at New York’s Nassau County International Cricket Stadium on June 9.
Pakistan lost to the United States (USA) in their tournament's opener after a thrilling Super Over as they struggled greatly with the bat. Mohammad Amir took the ball in the Super Over and the USA concluded their innings 18-1 in reply, the Men in Green could only score 13-1 and ended up losing the match by five runs.
The loss has put Pakistan at crossroads and the game against India is of significant importance as a loss in New York tomorrow would greatly put their chances of qualifying for Super Eight in danger.
With everything in mind, Pakistan should open with one of Saim Ayub or Usman Khan along with Mohammad Rizwan. Saim and Usman are explosive batters and can inflict real damage on the Indian batters.
Furthermore, they should also drop wicketkeeper batter Azam Khan as he has been struggling with the bat for a long time. The inclusion of mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed can be crucial for Pakistan.
Likely lineups
Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Babar Azam (c), Fakhar Zaman, Usman Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmed.
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh.
If Imad Wasim is fit, then he will most probably take the field for Pakistan.
Squads
Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan, Azam Khan, Shadab Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Usman Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Abrar Ahmed, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf.
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.
Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan.
