T20 World Cup: Babar, Rizwan fall eary to Arshdeep as India dominate powerplay vs Pakistan

Arshdeep Singh made two early breakthroughs for India in the powerplay overs against Pakistan in their T20 World Cup meeting on Sunday.

Young Arshdeep, playing his first-ever World Cup game, removed Pakistan skipper Babar Azam for a golden duck off his very first ball. The left-arm pacer then dismissed his opening partner Mohammad Rizwan at 15 for 2 in 3.6 overs. The wicketkeeper-batsman managed only four runs off 12 deliveries. It was certainly a memorable start for Arshdeep, who came into the T20 World Cup on the back of 13 T20I caps for India.

It is only the third time in 49 T20Is since January 2021 both Babar and Rizwan have been dismissed for single figure scores.

New batsmen in Iftikhar Ahmed and Shan Masood nine and eight runs in the fifth and sixth over respectively and Pakistan ended the powerplay with 32 runs – not the start Babar and Co would have wanted in their campaign opener of the T20 World Cup 2022.

Earlier, India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and asked Pakistan to bat. The toss could have given an edge to the Men in Blue because the last six India vs Pakistan T20Is have been all won by the side chasing with captains winning toss opting to field first every time: India winning four times and Pakistan twice.

Rishabh Pant and Harshal Patel did not make the Playing XI of India went with Dinesh Karthik and Mohammed Shami, who was earlier included in India's squad as a replacement for injured Jasprit Bumrah.

"We are going to field first. Looks like a good pitch, it's always nice to bowl with overcast conditions. Think the ball will swing around a bit, and we need to take advantage. Preparations have been good. We played a couple of practice games in Brisbane. Time to come out and enjoy ourselves now. We were expecting nothing less than this, hopefully, we'll entertain them (the crowd). We have seven batters, three seamers and two spinners," said Rohit after winning the toss on Sunday.

Pakistan captain Babar said his side was confident as they are well prepared, having won a few series in the lead-up to the tournament.

"Toss is not in our hands, but we would have liked to bowl first as well. We'll try to post around 160-170. We have prepared well, and we are ready for this big game. We had a T20 series back home (against England), and we played a tri-series in New Zealand, so we are prepared. We have three fast bowlers and two spinners," said Babar.

IND vs PAK: My body is fine, you'll see me bowling, says Hardik Pandya

Meanwhile, India all-rounder Hardik Pandya confirmed he would be bowling in the ongoing T20 World Cup.

"Have many fond memories here, I made my T20I debut in Australia, and from there the journey has continued. It's good to be back here, you can't get a better place to play sports and enjoy. My body is fine, I think you should put that topic about my body on rest, you will see me bowling. We are playing international cricket, it's not only about Pakistan bowlers.

Any team which is playing will have quality bowing at this level, international cricket has certain standards. So we all are aware about it and as a batting unit we have had a word about it. We have worked very hard to come here. The team that plays well, wins the contest," added Hardik ahead of India's first Super 12s game.

India vs Pakistan: Playing XI

India XI: Rohit Sharma(c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik(wk), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh

Pakistan XI: Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(wk), Shan Masood, Haider Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Asif Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah