Pakistan, India likely to tweak playing XIs for blockbuster clash

COLOMBO: Pakistan and India are expected to make key changes to their line-ups ahead of their blockbuster encounter at the R. Premadasa Stadium.

India are likely to bring back opening batter Abhishek Sharma, who missed their previous match against Namibia. He is set to replace wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson in the playing XI for the high-voltage clash against their arch-rivals.

Pakistan, meanwhile, could make two changes. Wicketkeeper-batter Usman Khan is likely to be replaced by young talent Khawaja Nafay, while Fakhar Zaman is expected to return to the side in place of Mohammad Nawaz.

Usman Khan failed to make an impact in Pakistan’s opening two matches of the T20 World Cup against the Netherlands and the USA, registering ducks in both outings.

Nafay, who has represented Pakistan in two T20 Internationals, has scored 47 runs at an impressive strike rate of 174.07 and is now in line to make his T20 World Cup debut.

Left-handed batter Fakhar Zaman, who has struggled for consistency in recent outings, did not feature in Pakistan’s matches in the ongoing tournament and is most likely to make an impact against the blue team.

He last played during the home T20I series against Australia, where he scored 10 runs in each of his two appearances.

Historically, India and Pakistan have faced each other 16 times in T20 Internationals, with India winning 13 matches and Pakistan three.

In T20 World Cup history, the rivals have met eight times, with India holding a dominant 7-1 record — a statistic that highlights the intensity and enduring drama of cricket’s fiercest rivalry.

Playing XIs

India: Ishan Kishan (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Rinku Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh and Jasprit Bumrah.

Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Ali Agha (c), Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Khawaja Nafay (wk), Shaheen Afridi, Abrar Ahmed and Usman Tariq.