15th February, 2015
The ICC World Cup had their headliner on the roster, three games into the start of the tournament - India were going to take on rivals Pakistan in both team’s opener at Adelaide.
Virat Kohli winced, wacked and growled his way to a century that helped India post 300 on the board. Sohail Khan was the pick of the Pak bowlers - 5/55 in his quota of 10. 76-off-84 and Misbah led from the front even as the team in green went on to lose yet another World Cup match to India.
27 February, 2016
Virat Kohli still growls at anyone he pleases. He still smashes them around the park, as he pleases.
The format may have changed as India and Pakistan meet on a cricket pitch after an entire year, but not much has changed in the Indian set-up.
Pakistan though, have been through quite a bit.
Misbah has retired. Sohail Khan has returned to his status of ‘MIA cricketer’ and most importantly, Mohammad Amir is now a Pakistani international cricketer again.
The Amir Question
Like it or not, Mohammad Amir is back. A five-year spot-fixing ban that included a six month prison sentence, and the 23-year-old is wearing the Pakistani jersey again.
His comeback series against New Zealand saw him play 2 ODIs and 3 T20s in Kiwi-land and the collective focus of the cricket audience of Saturday evening will be on Shahid Afridi’s team sheet at toss.
Will he give Amir a game? Have the players in the team made peace with his presence?
India’s Winning Start
While the game on Saturday will be Pakistan’s tournament opener, India have already gotten off to a winning start in the Asia Cup. A 45-run victory over Bangladesh to start things off, and not much will be weighing on Dhoni’s mind when he makes his team sheet.
The only concern in the team infact would be the skipper himself - Dhoni suffered a back spasm while training on Monday and while he did play against Bangladesh, Parthiv Patel is available on standby if there is an update on his condition.
Pakistan’s Preps
While India have been playing non-stop T20 since the start of the year, Pakistan have been preparing for the tournament in a T20 league of their own. No, literally. A league of their own - the Pakistan Super League.
Shahid Afridi thus will have a lot to choose from, despite missing the services of leg- spinner Yasir Shah. Ravichandran Ashwin is one bowler that Pakistanis did not negotiate well in the past. With the accurate Ravindra Jadeja for company, they would form a better pair than Afridi’s combination with left-arm spinner Mohammed Nawaz, fresh from his 13 wickets in PSL.
The only department that Pakistan are on even keel with India is pace bowling. There is not much to choose between Amir/Wahab Riaz and Ashish Nehra. All of them can swing the ball, have lovely variations with Wahab and Amir being slightly quicker than the nearly 37 -year-old Nehra.
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