World T20 Preview: India take on Pakistan in Eden Gardens

The Men in Green will be hoping to finally break the jinx of losing to their neighbours in ICC tournaments

Arguably one of the most important matches of the ICC World T20 tournament will finally get underway at 7 pm (PST) on Saturday in Kolkata, India.

Coming into the tournament, India are tipped as favourites to lift the trophy for the second time around. However, an early defeat in the opening game against New Zealand in Nagpur has left the hosts in a tricky situation, facing the exit doors if they lose against arch-rivals Pakistan today.

On the other hand, Shahid Afridi’s men will be coming in with full confidence after defeating Asia Cup runners-up Bangladesh in their opening match by 55 runs on Wednesday.



The Greenshirts will be hoping to finally break the jinx of losing to their neighbours in ICC tournaments, where they have never won a single match.

Both teams have so far faced each other seven times, where Dhoni's eleven won six times, most recently in Asia Cup.

Neither team is likely to make any changes in the playing eleven for the high-voltage contest. However, weather can prove to be a big obstacle in the most anticipated match of the tournament, with showers expected later on in the day.



Eden Gardens has so far hosted four T20Is, where teams batting second won twice, while only on one occasion the team batting first got over the line.

In 42 full T20 matches over seven seasons of Indian Premier League (IPL) at the same venue, 26 times team batting second won the match. The average score while batting first in those matches was 155 runs. The Men in Green have so far played five limited over matches at this venue, and came out victorious in all of them.



Former Pakistan skippers Imran Khan and Wasim Akram have also given pep talks to the national side ahead of the high pressure match. Stay tuned for live coverage as Pakistan go up against India in the World T20 Super 10s match.

India Squad:

MS Dhoni*†, R Ashwin, JJ Bumrah, S Dhawan, Harbhajan Singh, RA Jadeja, V Kohli, Mohammed Shami, P Negi, A Nehra, HH Pandya, AM Rahane, SK Raina, RG Sharma, Yuvraj Singh

Pakistan Squad:

Shahid Afridi*, Ahmed Shehzad, Anwar Ali, Imad Wasim, Khalid Latif, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Nawaz (3), Mohammad Sami, Sarfraz Ahmed†, Sharjeel Khan, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Wahab Riaz

Here are some pre-match reactions:

Looking forward to a great game today come on Pakistan

— Saqlain Mushtaq (@Saqlain_Mushtaq) March 19, 2016

Ind v Pak.at least we have a 2 hours to go before the Start! Feel for the ground staff having to sit out in the rain pic.twitter.com/fNSGhVascY

— Shaun Pollock (@7polly7) March 19, 2016

https://twitter.com/TrentWoodhill/status/711156363850690560

Its raining in both men & women #IndvsPak games.

Meanwhile Shiv Sainiks be like pic.twitter.com/CUpTNwbjkv

— Ojas (@Ojasism) March 19, 2016

https://twitter.com/tomliniaz/status/711170342954205184

https://twitter.com/tomliniaz/status/711170342954205184

Alvida dubai! It was overwhelming to see u guys give us all so much love. On our way back 2 see the #IndVsPak match! pic.twitter.com/GuaTlacDJO

— ARMAAN MALIK (@ArmaanMalik22) March 19, 2016

Lightning over Eden gardens, a dust storm outside and hundreds of men sitting on the ground. Who says #IndvsPak isn't an apocalyptic event

— Jarrod Kimber (@ajarrodkimber) March 19, 2016

I'm watching #IndvsPak #WT20women on @Twitter. Basically.

— Aliya Nazki (@AliyaNazki) March 19, 2016

The great @ImranKhanPTI arrives at Kolkata for #WT20 #IndVsPak https://t.co/uIEbfRnkIQhttps://t.co/ncyA93nfuH via @ndtv

— Nazia Kakar (@NaziaaKakar) March 19, 2016