India Vs. Pakistan

india never lose against pakistan at major tournaments

india wil win if they play 7 batsmen, otherwise pakisthan

who needs to see the squads?

If Pakistan finally win their first match against India in either the T20 or the one-day World Cups, they will have the satisfaction of also eliminating India while confirming qualification for the semi-final. That result will also put Australia in the final four, knocking out South Africa.

Will Irfan open the batting? How about the bowling? © AFP
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Preview : India look for inspiration, Pakistan progress
News : Shastri, Manjrekar question Yuvraj's hasty comeback
Players/Officials: MS Dhoni | Irfan Pathan
Matches: India v Pakistan at Colombo (RPS)
Series/Tournaments: ICC World Twenty20
Teams: India
Knock knock? Who's there? Irfan. Irfan who? New-ball bowler? Bowling allrounder? Batting allrounder? None of these. For the moment, opener. If the sight of Irfan Pathan walking out with Gautam Gambhir to open the India innings against Australia does not seal the argument in favour of MS Dhoni primarily being a defensive captain, nothing will. On the day he took what he called one of his toughest decisions, Dhoni effectively nullified the rare selection decisiveness he had shown in leaving Virender Sehwag out by having Irfan open.

Irfan is no Shane Watson. He has a decent technique and can hit a few big shots, but he is nowhere close to being Twenty20 opening material. It was immaterial how many runs Irfan actually got against Australia. For the record, he made one of the scratchiest thirties you'll ever see. But it was never about how many runs Irfan could have scored anyway. He was opening not because Dhoni thought he was the best opener in the selected XI, but because Dhoni did not want any of his middle-order batsmen to. He was opening because Dhoni did not want Irfan to bat at No. 7, a position where normally Dhoni himself or Suresh Raina bat. It was the height of defensive compromise to needlessly cushion a brave, by Dhoni's standards, selection decision.

Dhoni invests a lot in setting an innings up for a final assault. It is evident in the way he bats, content to play out several dot balls initially with the confidence that he or someone like Raina can make up at the death. At times, he has been criticised for leaving it for too late, for letting the pressure build up. Gambhir made the point in the Australia tri-series earlier this year that Dhoni should not have taken the chase till the final over in an ODI against the hosts.

Whether Gambhir or the world agrees with Dhoni or not, that is the way he has approached limited-overs cricket increasingly over the years, and his record shows he has mostly been successful, especially in ODIs. The point is, can the need to have a potent batsman at No. 6 or No. 7 justify fiddling with the opening slot, especially in a format where there is little time to recover from a diffident start? The bigger point is, Dhoni's most-eggs-in-the-death-overs-basket batting strategy does not suit T20s as much as it suits ODIs. There is a limit to how much damage even the best finishers can cause in a T20 because of the sheer paucity of time in the format. That is why most sides have their best batsmen opening in Twenty20 internationals. Watson and David Warner for Australia, Chris Gayle for West Indies, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Mahela Jayawardene for Sri Lanka, Tamim Iqbal for Bangladesh.

India had opened with Irfan against England as well, but that was an inconsequential game, and Dhoni wanted to give the fringe players in his squad a chance. But against Australia in the opening game of the Super Eights, a stage where India have famously struggled in

my all money with pakistan

Pak win the toss and BAT

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india chased down 330 at the asia cup this year against pak

"for some reason it's a bit noisy here"

you never know with pak sometimes, this could be 100 all out

took pak u 43.5 in first 6 overs. i expect india to come out strong after their debacle against aussies

does the pakistan national anthem not have any words?

here we goooooo then , OMFG ,what a game we have here

on PAk  at 2.2, need a win

backing India all the way here ....WIDE

at least he owned up straight away

boom boom

Afridi talk about win or bust. If he bats for 4 overs it could be carnage