T20 World Cup: Pakistan eye redemption as Green Shirts set to face India today – Sport

Pakistan will be seeking redemption as the Green Shirts face India later today during the ongoing T20 World Cup.

Although both countries are cricket powerhouses, head-to-head matches are rare between the nations. The two sides do not meet outside of official competitions of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the last Test match between them was in 2007.

The Rohit Sharma-led India will face Babar Azam and his men in their Group A match at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York — the 34,000-capacity venue built earlier this year. The match will kick off at 7:30pm.

The tickets for the high-profile encounter were sold out months ago.

A loss in today’s match will significantly diminish Pakis­tan’s chances to qualify for the Super Eight stage of the 20-nation spectacle.

Following the loss, Babar had acknowledged that his team had a tendency to underestimate less established ones at major tournaments, adding that his side played well below their standard in Thursday’s match.

A few unexpected results have also seen concerns being raised about the new pitches used in the T20 World Cup matches played in New York, with the ICC admitting that they have not been up to standard.

The temporary Nassau County International Cricket Stadium has hosted two games so far, both of which were low-scoring encounters due to the nature of the drop-in pitch which has made batting extremely difficult due to the movement and bounce.

While Indian batting coach Vikram Rathour described it as a “challenging wicket”, boosted by a win over Ireland, he asserted that his batters had the skills and experience needed to navigate that.