India vs. Pakistan T20 Preview, Prediction & Betting odds

The arch rivals, India and Pakistan, will face each other in their 1^st game of the ICC World Twenty20 on March 21, 2014 while both teams will anticipate a win. The two major teams of Asia have played five T20s so far and the Men in Blue were successful on three occasions whereas the Green Shirts earned just one victory and the fifth one ended as a tied one. India beat Pakistan in the final of the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 by a narrow margin of five runs on September 24, 2007, at Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg. The Men in Green have their tails up after beating their counterpart recently in the Asia Cup 2014, by one wicket in a thrilling encounter on March 2 at Mirpur.

Players to watch

Shikhar Dhawan will be an attacking opener and Virat Kohli has an excellent record against the Green Shirts whereas the middle order batting will revolve around MS Dhoni. Mohammed Shami uses the new ball at its best while Ravindra Jadeja bowled excellently in the Asia Cup 2014.

Ahmed Shehzad is in top form, Mohammad Hafeez enjoys playing long innings against India and the experience of Shoaib Malik will be handy as well. The lanky fast bowler, Mohammad Talha, will create problems for the rival batsmen and Saeed Ajmal is a match winner.

Weather

Clear blue skies with the temperatures around 21-34ᵒ C

Toss

The winning captain will opt for batting

The Pitch

The curator will prepare a strip which will be enjoyed by the batsmen

Teams

India -  MS Dhoni (C), Varun Aaron, Ravichandran Ashwin, Stuart Binny, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Amit Mishra, Mohammed Shami, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Mohit Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh.

Pakistan - Mohammad Hafeez (C), Ahmed Shehzad, Bilawal Bhatti, Junaid Khan, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Talha, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi, Sharjeel Khan, Shoaib Malik, Sohaib Maqsood, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul, Zulfiqar Babar.

Prediction

Keeping in view the past performance of the Indian team, they will be favourites to win the game.