With the unblemished record of success against the arch-rivals at the marquee ICC events a thing of the past, a hurt Indian team will be desperate for revenge against a high-quality Pakistan side in a sell-out Super 12 clash of the T20 World Cup in Melbourne on Sunday.
Rain threat
While rain is threatening to play spoilsport, it's unlikely to be a complete washout according to people who understand weather conditions here.
Thousands of fans from both countries have crisscrossed the globe to watch their team in action and trust rival captains Rohit Sharma and Babar Azam to tell you this is another 'match' for them but all the 22 players and the reserves know that this is 'The Match'.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, under whom, India never lost to Pakistan at ICC events, would repeat himself time and again that there is no place for the word 'revenge' in a cricket field.
But a lot has changed in the past one year since Shaheen Shah Afridi in an intimidating opening spell gave Pakistan team its first victory in a World Cup across formats.
India wouldn't mind going into a match as underdogs and it will be Pakistan, who will have to live up to the high expectations.
This has been a trend with the Indian team for some time now — not having a settled combination. In 2019, they didn't have a number four even after two years in the run-up to the meet.
No place for Rishabh Pant
And now, one year after the last T20 World Cup, India might have to drop a specialist left-hander (Rishabh Pant) from the top five in order to accommodate an extra bowler.
The sameness in the batting line-up is a bit worrying as it would let Shaheen, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf bowl one line in absence of Pant, who also has been a touch out of form.
How India's top three handle Shaheen in the Powerplay would dictate how the match will pan out.
One man, who could perhaps take Shaheen head on is India's current No. 1 batter Suryakumar Yadav, who is someone who never changes his game irrespective of conditions or situations.
But in wet conditions, Rohit would pray that lady luck will shine on him and he would win the toss and may be opt to chase when his his bowling line-up looks a bit scratchy.
How Harshal Patel might play
While India have three spinners in the line-up, there could be only one playing in the end if the persistent rains and a sharp dip in temperature, makes the conditions seamer-friendly.
In that case, an out of form Harshal Patel, with decent batting skills might be back in the scheme of things.
But with three left-handers - Shan Masood/Fakhar Zaman, Mohammed Nawaz and Khushdil Shah, a bowler who can turn it away is always going to be in the mix. Hence Ravichandran Ashwin can never be completely out of equation.
Last time, the strategy to promote Nawaz as a pinch hitter in Asia Cup Super 4, literally stumped India but they must have done better homework this time not to get caught off-guard.
On Sunday, the only factor that puts Pakistan slightly ahead is Shaheen, who is slowly reaching close to his best.
IND vs PAK: My Dream11 Team
1, Virat Kohli, 2 Mohammad Rizwan, 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Babar Azam 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Axar Patel, 7 Haris Rauf, 8 Shadab Khan, 9 Naseem Shah, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Shaheen Afridi
Teams
India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami
Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood
Probable Playing 11
India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami
Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi
