The much-anticipated India vs Pakistan clash at the 2022 T20 World Cup is now underway with India electing to put Pakistan into bat first at the MCG in Melbourne.
But even before the first ball was bowled, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma's emotions during the national anthem had fans feeling all the feels.
As is customary, both squads lined up for the national anthem before the start of play and the broadcaster showed the Indian line-up as the MCG joined them in singing Jana Gana Mana. At the end, the camera stayed with Rohit Sharma who closed his eyes and seemed to be controlling his emotions.
Sharma is captaining India in his first ICC tournament since being named the full-time Indian skipper.
Rohit Sharma had earlier won the toss and elected to bowl first against Pakistan in their first match of Super 12.
In head-to-head encounters in T20Is, India lead Pakistan 8-3, including their bowl-out victory in the 2007 T20 World Cup in South Africa. Interestingly, the last six T20Is between these two teams have been won by the chasing side, with India winning four times and Pakistan twice.
"Looks like a good pitch, it's always nice with overcast conditions. Think the ball will swing around a bit. Preparations have been good. We played a couple of practice games in Brisbane. Time to come out and enjoy ourselves."
"We were expecting nothing less than this (packed crowd), hopefully we'll entertain them. We have seven batters, three seamers and two spinners," said Sharma after winning the toss.
In India's playing eleven, pacer Mohammed Shami and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin have been included alongside senior right-arm pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, left-arm fast bowler Arshdeep Singh and left-arm spinner Axar Patel, ahead of leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and pacer Harshal Patel.
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