ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022: India vs Pakistan Live Scores | IND vs PAK T20 World Cup Live Sco

India vs Pakistan, 16th Match, Super 12 Group 2 - Live Cricket Score, Commentary
Series: ICC Mens T20 World Cup 2022
Venue: Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
Date & Time: Oct 23, 07:00 PM LOCAL

The Overview

A week out from their much-billed clash at the MCG, the players and staff of India and Pakistan briefly bumped into each other during a small overlap between their respective warm-up games. The setting was idyllic: A pleasant spring evening in Brisbane, the sun just beginning to slip behind the high-rises of the Woolloongabba vicinity, the floodlights radiant, the Gabba almost empty. Perfect for coffee and conversation.

And there was enough to discuss: family, food and the rain forecast for starters. Their tours had already packed more than 10,000 kilometers of travel, several heavyweight timezone adjustments, some double net sessions, a series of marketing pushes and also some games on top of it all. As the meet-cute lingered, a broadcast producer and a social media manager got wind of this impromptu rendezvous and had cameras turn in their direction. Nothing with these teams is done quietly away from mass scrutiny any more. And India and Pakistan hadn't even gotten to Melbourne yet.

The cosmopolitan capital of Victoria is where these sides have been asked to face each other next by ICC's fixture computer, the fifth time in eight T20 World Cups they've been drawn together in the same first-round group. The importance of the game for the financial and emotional stakeholders has already been overstated. Lest it is forgotten, it has proved to be even more crucial for the two teams themselves. While it may seem facile to pinpoint one result over a five-match group stage as being the spanner in the works, it turns out that defeat in this fixture has eventually proved terminal for the team's progression in three of the four T20 World Cups so far.

When: India vs Pakistan, ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022, October 23, 19:00 Local, 13:30 IST

Where: Melbourne Cricket Ground

What to expect: Showers. Those in the ICC and in the broadcast teams have kept a close track of Sunday's forecast for a week now. It must be said that it has improved in the last few days given the grim prediction a week out. But given that rain is expected around match start time, delays are likely. It could even come down to being a snappy batting shoot-out between the sides and therefore favour the chasing team. If the toss is delayed and the game heavily curtailed, expect captains to knock off a bowler in favour of hitting reinforcements. There are no reserve days for this group game.

T20I Head to Head:India 8-3 Pakistan (includes India's Bowl-Out win in 2007)

Team Watch:

India
Injured/Unavailable: India have a clean bill of health to report. Mohammed Shami, the latest entrant to the squad, warmed up with a long bowling stint in the MCG nets two days out from the game, simulating both PowerPlay and death-overs scenario. Rohit Sharma opined Shami was 'very much ready' and could just jump ahead in the bowling queue.

Tactics & Matchups:
The game could boil down to a straight fight between the two most prolific opening pairs in T20I cricket. While India's openers -- Rohit Sharma (avg 15.71 at 123.60SR) and KL Rahul (avg 10.33 at 106.90 SR) have particularly bad records against Pakistan, Mohammed Rizwan has flourished in his three games against India, top-scoring in each of Pakistan's two wins in the last 12 months. But he has modest returns against both Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya, the former keeping him to a-run-a-ball, and the latter dismissing him twice in 21 balls.

India used the short ball against Babar and most of Pakistan's line-up during their recent Asia Cup win, a strategy that could be in for an encore at the MCG with its big square boundary.

Meanwhile, If India do draft Shami in place of Harshal Patel, they'll also have to compensate for Harshal's batting prowess in the lower-order which could see R. Ashwin come in, in place of Yuzvendra Chahal. It would not be a match-up disadvantage for India as Pakistan have struggled against right-arm finger spinners since the last World Cup (lost 12 wickets, RR: 6.54). Ashwin himself has been excellent against right-handers, going at less than six per over bowling to right-handers in the same period.