The semi-finals line-up has been decided now. It’ll be New Zealand vs Pakistan at the SCG, and India vs England at Adelaide Oval. India top Group 2, not only with more points than anyone else, but they’ve also lifted their net run rate above Pakistan’s. A thumping win today, set up by another brilliant innings from Suryakumar Yadav, and finished off by the fast bowlers, who reduced Zimbabwe to 36 for 5 before Sikandar Raza and Ryan Burl saved some face.
Jayeshds: “What a competitive super 12,the lower half giving good fight to upper half in group and each team won at least a game. ”
karguvel: “Initially I was thinking group 2 is weaker group and India must win matches against SA and PAK to qualify. Finally it turned out to be more entertaining group ”
After two games of the three on Sunday, two semi-finalists from Group two are confirmed. South Africa were favourites to make it, but Netherlands pipped them and Pakistan overtook them. Can India top the group? Head over here to find out. It’s goodbye from me, Ekanth, on behalf of, Sudarshanan, my fellow commentator, and our scorers: Thilak Rama and M Venkat Raghav.
Pakistan have a come-from-nowhere entry to the semi-final. That would have been more pronouncing if the tournament hadn’t delivered them almost on demand. Today’s game was wobbly despite the start to the chase being stable. Babar didn’t look set but he spent time at the crease, got 25 off 33 in a low chase. Rizwan made 32 and ensured there were no wickets in the first ten.
That was also because a catch was dropped off of Taskin’s bowling by Nurul, the keeper, in his first over. After the tenth over, Bangladesh created chances but luck wasn’t as favourable as balls fell in no-man’s-landy areas and overthrows started costing them. The stars for Pakistan were Mohammad Haris and Shan Masood, the former slaughtered and the latter steered the modest chase to a safe finish.
Lokeshh: “and the curse of winning the toss in Adelaide continues…..”
Taha: “It’s going to be eng vs Pak final at the MCG, repeat of 1992 WC” Wow, that might be the first non India-Pakistan final prediction.
Ameer Hamza: “Thank you Netherlands :)”
Ali Mushaf: “Feels like studying the last night and passing the exam.”
Shaheen Shah Afridi, POTM: I have improved. Not easy to come back from injury and bowl 140ks but I’m trying my best. As a team, we are very happy. We’ve played great. Bowl in the right areas and fast was the plan. (On if they’re looking forward to the semis) Now, we are looking forward to the final (laughs).
The Super 12s are done. It’s time for the semis. It’s New Zealand vs Pakistan on Wednesday in Sydney, and India s England on Thursday in Adelaide. We look forward to your company for those games, but don’t go anywhere just yet, because we’ll have plenty of post-match content going up very soon. We hope you’ve enjoyed our coverage. Until next time, it’s goodbye from me, Andrew and Thilak.
Rohit Sharma: “A very good all-round performance, something we were looking for. We had qualified, but we wanted to come out and play the way we wanted to play, which we achieved. What SKY is doing for the team is remarkable, just coming out there, playing that way, taking the pressure off the others. We know his ability, and it allows the guy at the other end to take his time. The dugout can really be at ease when he bats, and he’s shown a lot of composure when he’s batted. We expected this from him, and he’s gone from strength to strength. The key for us will be to adjust quickly to the conditions.
We have played a game there, but we need to adjust quickly. England are a good team, and it will be a great contest. We should take pride in qualifying, firstly, and if we play that semi-final well, we have another big game as well. It’s about understanding the lines and lengths – the square boundaries are shorter – and executing well. The fans have been brilliant all this while, almost everywhere we have gone we’ve got a full house, and we expect the same in the semi-finals as well. On behalf of the team I’d really like to thank them.”
Craig Ervine: “I think maybe we could have changed up a couple of other plans. Suryakumar was brilliant at the end, negated Richey’s wide yorkers, which was our main plan. We could maybe have changed our pace a bit more there. Leading up to the tournament, we went in looking to be positive at the top, but the last 2-3 games we kind of went away from there. The ball was swinging, but to counter that we probably could have moved around a little bit, been more proactive. We mustn’t forget the work we did to get into the Super 12s. We’ll look to build on that. Our catching wasn’t so good in the last few games, but I know the boys worked really hard on that.”
Suryakumar Yadav is the Player of the Match. “I think the plan was very clear when me and Hardik were batting. He said let’s take the positive route and see where we end up. We started hitting the ball well and never stopped till the 20th over. The atmosphere in the team is very nice, and the build-up to the knockouts has been very nice. My plan is always clear. I’m not trying anything different.
I bat the same way in the nets as well. [On his 2022:] Feels really good, but coming out and starting from zero is what I always think when I come out to bat, and I’ll keep doing that. It’s good to see people come out and support us like this even after we’ve qualified.”
“I don’t take much pressure because I know I’ve faced bigger problems” – From losing both parents early in his life to now being ready to take over the reins from Indian hockey legend, PR Sreejesh, in goal, Krishan Pathak has come a long way. Read more, here.
Meanwhile, in Indian badminton, Sankar Muthusamy’s silver at the BWF Jr. World Championships put him in the company of the likes of Aparna Popat and Saina Nehwal, but he has his sights aimed higher – success in the senior circuit. Read more, here.
Afeef: “Sikandar Raza had a phenomenal tournament. Deserves to be Player of the Tournament.”
Moti Prakash: “The biggest news is Ned qualified for the next WT20 whereas Zim, Ban, Ire, and Afg have to play qualifiers.”
Arun: “India simply has to pick Chahal for the semi-final with Axar in miserable form. Has not scored any runs, and has not found a way to take wickets or be economical.” — India would be compromising their batting depth in a big way if they did that, though.
Who writes the script for Pakistan? They crawled their way back into semi-final contention. Then they crawled their way back after a steady Bangladesh start to be just 128 runs away from semi-finals. I reckon they should get there. What do you think?
Hello and welcome to what is quickly flourishing into a potboiler of a rivalry. It’s Bangladesh v Pakistan. I’m Shashank Kishore, pleased to have Karthik Krishnaswamy’s company for tonight’s game.
Thanks, Shashank. As soon as I enter the commentary pod, a sheet of hessian goes onto the pitch. It’s quite overcast right now, but it isn’t raining, and the actual covers aren’t on. Let’s hope we start on time.
Just a little over 15 minutes to the first ball. It’s a good time to welcome Karthik Krishnaswamy into the hot seat while I grab some lunch.
IT’S TOSS TIMEEEEEEEE…..yelps Ravi Shastri.
Tails says Shakib, tails it is Bangladesh. They’ll bowl first.
“Don’t know what the best score is on this pitch,” says Shakib. “Know what’s coming at us, we’re well prepared. Boys gelling well together, everyone looking forward to this. Need to continue doing good things. Batting is one area we can improve. Our fast bowling terrific.”
One change for Bangladesh: Soumya Sarkar is out, Shoriful Islam comes in. That means Bangladesh are playing an extra fast bowler today.
Rohit says he would’ve loved to bat. So both sides get what they wanted.
India too make one change. Axar in, Hooda out.
The XIs for you
Bangladesh: 1 Najmul Hossain Shanto, 2 Litton Das, 4 Shakib Al Hasan, 4 Afif Hossain, 5 Nurul Hasan (wk), 6 Mosaddek Hossain, 7 Yasir Ali, 8 Taskin Ahmed, 9 Mustafizur Rahman, 10 Hasan Mahmud, 11 Shoriful Islam
India: 1 KL Rahul, 2 Rohit Sharma (capt), 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Axar Patel, 7 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 Arshdeep Singh
I’m told it’s gotten chilly in Adelaide. The Indian players are out on the field, armed with hand warmers, hoodies and caps. Conditions seem to have become blustery as well. We’re minutes away from the toss.
Aditya: “The problem with Bangladesh is the leadership – I mean how exactly do you expect players to perform if the captain says we aren’t even here to win the world cup?”
Bangla Vikki: “Shakib played down Bangladesh’s chances, but if Taskin Ahmed makes new ball talk, an upset can’t be ruled out. Taskin in form of his life.”
Md. Hafizur Rah: “Shakib Al Hasan blown away the pressure from team BD by saying “India is the favourite team, they came here to win the World Cup. We are not favourites, we didn’t come here to win the World Cup.” So they have nothing to lose, only have everything to gain. This could be dangerous for India. Come on tigers, make an upset today.”
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Wajid Jawaid with a pertinent question: “As a Bangladeshi player who got to know about their captain’s comment on their overall team potential, would you be motivated to prove yourself or deflated due to lack of confidence by the skipper?”
5,35pm Plenty of you asking if KL Rahul will play. Currently, that’s not even a debate, if the team management is to be believed.
If you’re in the US, you can watch this game live on ESPN+ in English or in Hindi.
Shirish : “What about DK, is he playing?” — Doing laps around the ground, is being monitored closely by the S&C coach. Dravid said yesterday that he’s pulled up fine and that a final call will be taken before the toss.
Shahadat Raju opens our comments section tonight: “Bangladesh should just stick to this squad for 1-2 years. Whatever happens just continue with this squad..This is a new era with a new culture of fast bowling in Bangladesh..Hope for the best..”
Through this tournament, we’re picking the best moments from the games with our video experts in a daily show. And if you want to actually own a piece of those moments, they are available as digital memorabilia on FanCraze, ESPNcricinfo’s digital collectible partners. On FanCraze, you can pre-buy iconic moments from each match of the World Cup called the Crictos of the Game.
The last time India and Bangladesh met at the T20 World Cup, this happened. Bangladesh fans, look away. But obviously, that game has been spoken about every time the two sides have met since. Here’s Mohammad Isam referring to that and how the rivalry has come to be in his preview.
The rain has so far stayed away but conditions are overcast in Adelaide. The fans are slowly beginning to fill up the stadium even as Netherlands continue to hammer one blow after another to Zimbabwe.
“Looks like a good pitch, a bit of grass, and it’s a little overcast, so the ball might swing around a little bit, so we’ll try and use that to our advantage,” Rohit says. “Very much sorted with our preparation now. It’s time to come out and enjoy ourselves.”
6.20pm What does the pitch look like? According to Michael Clarke, it’s an “absolute beauty”. A bit of green grass on top, and it’s “rock hard”. “A beautiful batting pitch once you get in, get past that new ball.” He suggests that the captain winning the toss bat first. Interesting.
Jiten Chandaran: “It looks like Ashwin is playing, so that means they have some batting at 8, which allows Shami to come in for Harshal. I expect now.”
Fiaz Laghari: “A while ago, we friends left our room to get some breakfast and everyone out here on the roads seems to be in a great rush. It’s like a storm is coming and people are rushing to some safe place, that is how the excitement level is here in Lahore for Pak-Ind clash. Everyone trying to get their things done before the match starts.”
6.15pm Virat Kohli’s just given India’s players an animated pep talk. We’re also hearing that Mohammed Shami is marking out his run-up. If he plays, it’ll be his 18th T20I. Half of them, Sampath Bandarupalli informs me, have come at World Cups. That’s quite a stat.
Adarsh: “Here’s a left-field opinion: India should have Pant open today to create a left-right combination against Shaheen Shah Afridi and hopefully mess with his lines.”
BW: “Could this be the most viewed cricinfo commentary of all time? No pressure, Karthik.”
6.05pm Monga is watching India train, and his observations tell him Rishabh Pant probably isn’t playing tonight.
“Pakistan have put up three national flags on their warm-up side of the field,” Monga adds. “India zero.” Make of this what you will.
Syed: “Dreadful weather here in my town Swindon but terrific news about the weather in Melbourne hopefully to watch a full match without interference.” — I don’t think this has any basis in science, but the more rain there is in every non-Melbourne city in the world, the less the chances of rain in Melbourne. Swindon is doing its bit for cricket!
Syed Habeeb: “What is the news about Fakhar Zaman?” — He hasn’t recovered fully from his knee issue, so he’s not available today.
5.55pm Here are two fantastic pieces on two fantastic Pakistan players: Alex Malcolm chats with the former Melbourne Stars list manager Trent Woodhill about Haris Rauf, who’ll come into tonight’s game with plenty of local knowledge of the conditions. And Danyal Rasool interviews the ebullient and thoughtful Shadab Khan, Pakistan’s Mr. T20.
If you’re in the US, you can watch the game live on ESPN+.
If any of you collect player cards, autographed bats or other memorabilia from cricket games, you may be interested in their digital versions. This World Cup, the cricket world is meeting the world of digital collectibles. ESPNcricinfo’s digital collectibles partners FanCraze are allowing fans to pre-buy iconic moments from each match of the World Cup called the Crictos of the Game. We’ll also have a weekly video series here on ESPNcricinfo with our experts picking our favourite moments of the week.
For the fantasy players and gamers among you, you may want to check out a game from our digital collectibles partners Fan Craze – the FanCraze Flash Nets game, where you use digital collectibles to play and earn rewards.
Mihit: “Been at MCG since last 1 hour.. what an atmosphere.. best you can ever imagine..No rain forecast till 2am, so very good chance of a full game. Bring it on.. Go India!!!”
Moazzam: “Raining in my city Oslo but gooood news from Melbourne “
Akhil: “This is probably first time after 2007 T20 WC that India are not coming into the match as favourites. Though we can’t say Pakistan are expected to win, brace yourselves for an exciting match”
5.45pm Shaheen Shah Afridi. Is back. That is all.
Saurabh: “I have three work colleagues from Pakistan here in Perth. We share and align almost on everything from food to thoughts, from wishing each other on Diwali and Eid. This is the day when we won’t align as it is India vs Pak :P”
Afeef : “Hope law of averages doesn’t catch up with Suryakumar’s good form today”
Kushal mehta: “Have slept for an hour at night, driven 500 km non stop, but never felt more energetic than today. Got my adrenaline rushing high. New Indian t20 jersey on, game on! Go India. Seek Revenge for the previous defeat!”
Sujith: “Early prediction Rauf gets Rohit, Shaheen gets Virat, Bhuvi gets Rizwan, Arshdeep gets Babar.”
5.40pm In case you haven’t noticed already, our Live Blog is up and running. And if it’s expert opinions you’re after, who better than Anil Kumble and Stephen Fleming to set things up?
Arun Heer: “Welcome to a clash which is not less than a festival in these two nations playing each other! We’re more than 100 members of ‘Langley Lions’, a cricket team of local players in British Columbia, CANADA, all awake to to watch at 1 AM local time. God will change plans and postpone rain as he has to watch this clash too, agreed??”
Mustafa Moudi : “Last 4 results between these 2 sides in T20I (Oldest first) – India Won (T20 WC ’16), Pakistan Won (T20 WC ’21), India Won (Asia Cup ’22 Group Stage) and Pakistan Won (Asia Cup ’22 Super 4). Going by the pattern…. IYKWIM !!”
5.30pm Hello, hello. Welcome to ESPNcricinfo’s coverage of the latest chapter in the friendliest, most bonhomious (it’s officially a word now) rivalry in all cricket. You’ll be pleased to know that Melbourne is bathed in bright sunlight at the moment, judging by the images our correspondent Sidharth Monga is sending over. Fans in blue and green are streaming into the ‘G as we speak, having squeezed out of the traffic jam encircling the stadium. We’re an hour away from the toss, and we really cannot wait.
Siddharth: “It’s time for the greatest sporting event of the year. Can’t wait!!”
PAK vs IND T20I Series: PTV Sports Live Broadcast Pakistan vs England Match Today 2022
England won the first Twenty20 International by six wickets against Pakistan. Alex Hales’s fifty and Harry Brook’s unbeaten 42 off 25 balls propelled England to victory in their chase of 159. Previously, in a four-over stint, Luke Wood had three wickets and allowed only 24 runs.
Pakistan won the second game by 10 wickets thanks to an unbroken century from Babar Azam and a 203-run partnership between Azam and Mohammad Rizwan (88 not out). On Friday, England’s all-around performance paid off with a victory after Pakistan’s attempt to score 222 runs was unsuccessful by 63 runs.
Since 2022 will host the Twenty20 World Cup, every game will be vital. Twenty of England’s best players have made the trip to Pakistan. The Babar Azam-led team, on the other hand, maybe missing bowler Shaheen Afridi, but they still have some formidable players.
That’s why they’d want to make the most of their current situation at home. England has swept their last three Twenty20 Internationals against Pakistan. Twenty-four contests have been played between the two squads. To date, Pakistan has a 7-15 record.
PAK vs IND Live PTV Sports 2022:
The fourth T20 Match between Pakistan and England will be played at National Stadium Karachi at 7:00 PM. The live coverage of the PAK vs IND T20 Series will be available on PTV Sports and Ten Sports.