‘Imad Wasim fit and available for Pakistan-India clash’

NEW YORK: Pakistan white-ball head coach Gary Kirsten on Saturday confirmed availability of all-rounder Imad Wasim, saying that the latter is fit and will play the blockbuster T20 World Cup 2024 clash against arch-rivals India, scheduled on June 9.

The Pakistani all-rounder was ruled out of the Green Shirts’ opening match against the United States of America (USA) in the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.

Imad Wasim was suffering from a side injury, due to which he also missed the fourth T20i against England in the recently concluded series.

Addressing the pre-match conference on the eve of the highly-anticipated fixture between arch-rivals Pakistan and India, Kristen also expressed his hope for a turnaround for the Green Shirts in the tournament.

“We will make a comeback in tomorrow’s match hopefully. I don’t like to dwell on the past, we will forget the previous loss [against the USA] and focus on the match [against India] and play excellent cricket,” he added.

Gary Kirsten then discussed the nature of the T20s and emphasised the need to improve decision-making to excel in the format.

Just like Indian captain Rohit Sharma, Gary Kirsten asserted that playing a couple of games at a venue would not benefit a team.

“Things change quickly in T20s, we have to move the decision-making,” Kirsten said. “Nobody gets an advantage if a team plays two or four more games here.”

Kirsten then went on to share that Pakistan’s Playing XI has not been finalised as of yet as the management is analysing a few players’ fitness.

“We are looking at the fitness of a couple of players so the playing XI has not been decided yet. The players know about [the game of] one another, we will have to play our best game according to the conditions.”

Pakistan and India will lock horns for the eighth time in a T20 World Cup when they square off at the newly-built Nassau County International Cricket Stadium on June 9.

Out of seven matches played thus far between the arch-rivals, India emerged victorious six times while Pakistan tasted triumph only once.

The two teams boast contrasting momentums as India eased past Ireland by eight wickets in the campaign opener while Pakistan succumbed to a humiliating defeat against the USA.

Pakistan squad for T20 World Cup 2024

Babar Azam (c), Abrar Ahmed, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan, Usman Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Azam Khan, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub.

India squad for T20 World Cup 2024

Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Hardik Pandya (vc), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.