"Indian team will win": BCCI Vice President on India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup clash

New Delhi [India], June 8 (ANI): Ahead of the high-voltage T20 World Cup 2024 match between India and Pakistan, BCCI Vice President Rajiv Shukla on Saturday expressed confidence in India's victory over Pakistan.
"Tomorrow there is a very important match between India and Pakistan being held in New York. I am hopeful that the Indian team will win because, till now, in all the league matches, our performance has been very good. I have full hope that we will achieve victory in tomorrow's match," Shukla told ANI.
The match between India and Pakistan will take place at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York on Sunday (June 9).
The Men in Blue are coming into this match after beating Ireland by 8 wickets. Meanwhile, Babar Azam-led Pakistan conceded a disappointing loss against the US in the super-over in their previous game of the marquee event.
The pitch of the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York, where India played their first match of the campaign against Ireland, has been in the news for its uneven and slow outfield.
After much talk on the pitch, the International Cricket Council on Thursday issued a statement recognising that the pitches used at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup have not been as consistent as expected and the groundsmen were working hard to find a solution and deliver the "best possible surfaces" for the remaining games.
Earlier on Thursday, the USA produced a historic moment in the history of cricket as they stunned Pakistan with a Super Over triumph in a nail-biting match at the ICC T20 World Cup 2024.
In the history of the ICC T20 World Cup, both these Asian giants have crossed paths seven times, with India having won six and Pakistan only prevailing in the 2021 edition in UAE, where they crushed Virat Kohli-led Men in Blue by 10 wickets.
The game will feature some of the game's biggest stars and batters. On one side will be the iconic 'Ro-Ko' pair of Virat Kohli (4,038 runs in 118 matches) and Rohit Sharma (4,026 in 152 matches) and the other side will feature a consistent pair of skipper Babar Azam (4,067 runs from 120 matches, the highest T20I run-getter) and Mohammed Rizwan (3,212 runs in 99 matches).
In this battle of heavyweights, anyone could prevail, but if they all do well with the bat, cricket and die-hard fans of the sport will win, no doubt.
It is also a battle of pace batteries, on one side is an exciting, fast and fiery line-up of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah, who have on many occasions, troubled Indian batters with their pace. But on the other side is perhaps the best pacer in the world, India's Jasprit Bumrah, who has been in scorching form since his return to the game last year from an injury, setting the 50-over World Cup and Indian Premier League (IPL) on fire by taking 20 wickets each.
To complement him are the new-ball specialist, Mohammed Siraj, yorker and swing specialist Arshdeep Singh and all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who can also put Pakistan under pressure with their pace and ability to do well in big games. The spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel add depth to the squad with their batting while Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav can walk into any team as specialist spinners.
India T20 WC Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Hardik Pandya, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
Pakistan T20 WC Squad: Babar Azam (C), Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan. (ANI)