T20 World Cup: Pakistan announces 12-member squad for India clash

DUBAI: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Saturday announced Pakistan Cricket Team’s 12-member squad for Sunday’s all-important clash against arch-rivals India, ARY News reported.

According to the statement released by PCB, the squad led by captain Babar Azam includes Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Rizwan, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Hafeez, Shadab Khan, Shoaib Malik, Haris Rauf, Hassan Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi.

Billions of cricket fans across the globe will be glued to their televisions and nearly 30,000 spectators will be inside the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday to witness Pakistan open their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup campaign against India. The match between the two former champions will commence at 7pm PST.

Pakistan and India first met in T20 format in the ICC T20 World Cup 2007 in Durban, which India won in bowl-out after both the sides ended up on 141 runs each. Since, the two sides have played each other four more times – including the 2007 edition’s final – in the T20 World Cup.

In the ICC T20I Rankings, India is ranked second and Pakistan third, just five points behind. New Zealand, Pakistan’s opponent on Tuesday, is fourth on 257 points.

Apart from mission of beating India for the first time in the ICC T20 World Cup, the other incentive for Pakistan will be that their victory will narrow the gap between the two sides to one point with India dropping to 264 points and Pakistan rising to 263 points. A win on Tuesday over New Zealand will potentially put Pakistan in second place on the ICC T20 Team Rankings.