Pakistan meet archrivals India today
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
After crushing Bangladesh by 70 runs in the inaugural match, Pakistan meet archrivals India in the 2nd day/night encounter of the Kitply Cup at the Mirpur Shere-e-Bangla National Stadium (SBNS) Tuesday at 3 pm, reports UNB.
This will be the 114th ODI meeting between the two cricket powerhouses in the subcontinent. Of the previous matches, Pakistan won 66 and India won 43, while the other four matches ended without result.
But as a neutral venue in Dhaka, India had a much better record as they won four out of the six encounters. In their previous encounter in Dhaka in the 2000 Asia Cup, Pakistan earned a 44-run victory over India.
Eight satellite channels -- Neo TV (India), Geo TV (Pakistan), BTV (Bangladesh), Astro TV (Malaysia, Brunei), Direct TV (USA), Super Sports (Southern Africa), GTV (UK, Europe) and ATN (Canada) -- will telecast the match live from the SBNS.
Before the Tuesday's high voltage match, both the teams had their practice sessions today (Monday) at the match venue -- the Indian team in the morning and the Pakistan side in the afternoon.
At a pre-match press conference, Indian coach Garry Kirsten said, "India-Pakistan match is always going to be a great match. Our guys are certainly geared up for the match. They are motivated for the game and representing their country is always a great thing for them. It's a big game and the intensity is really going to be out there."
Replying to a query about opener Virendar Sehwag's absence during the day's practice, he informed that Sehwag would be available for the Tuesday's match although he had slight cold. "We are just taking cautionary measures and decided not to bring him in the day's session. Everyone is fit and firing and we had good session today," Kirsten said.
The former South African international told a questioner that they have nos yet decided about the playing eleven. Replying to another question on playing spinner Pragyan Ojha, he said, "We are looking at all different options."
Asked whether they would bat first or would chose to chase, the ex left-handed opener said, "We will make the decision when the time comes. We will look at the situation and try to get out the good result."
About the behavior of the wicket, Kirsten said, "We saw the wicket obviously in the last game yesterday (Sunday) and we've an idea what it's going to do. We also had a look today (Monday) and got the idea about the pace of the wicket."
On the other hand, Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson strongly said, "We will make 13 in a row," as Pakistan won their previous 12 ODI matches.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh will play the 3rd and last group match of the tournament against India on June 12, also at the SBNS.
After that the top two teams will play in the final slated for June 14, also at the same venue. All the matches are day/night affairs.
Pakistan squad: Shoaib Malik (capt), Salman Butt, Nasir Jamshed, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal (wk), Sohail Khan, Umar Gul, Sohail Tanvir, Rao Iftikhar, Wahab Riaz, Fawad Alam, Bazid Khan and Naumanullah.
India squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Yuvraj Singh, Virendar Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Robin Uttappa, Suresh Raina, M Gani, Yousuf Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Pravin Kumar, RP Singh, Piyush Chawla and Pragyan Ojha.
This will be the 114th ODI meeting between the two cricket powerhouses in the subcontinent. Of the previous matches, Pakistan won 66 and India won 43, while the other four matches ended without result.
But as a neutral venue in Dhaka, India had a much better record as they won four out of the six encounters. In their previous encounter in Dhaka in the 2000 Asia Cup, Pakistan earned a 44-run victory over India.
Eight satellite channels -- Neo TV (India), Geo TV (Pakistan), BTV (Bangladesh), Astro TV (Malaysia, Brunei), Direct TV (USA), Super Sports (Southern Africa), GTV (UK, Europe) and ATN (Canada) -- will telecast the match live from the SBNS.
Before the Tuesday's high voltage match, both the teams had their practice sessions today (Monday) at the match venue -- the Indian team in the morning and the Pakistan side in the afternoon.
At a pre-match press conference, Indian coach Garry Kirsten said, "India-Pakistan match is always going to be a great match. Our guys are certainly geared up for the match. They are motivated for the game and representing their country is always a great thing for them. It's a big game and the intensity is really going to be out there."
Replying to a query about opener Virendar Sehwag's absence during the day's practice, he informed that Sehwag would be available for the Tuesday's match although he had slight cold. "We are just taking cautionary measures and decided not to bring him in the day's session. Everyone is fit and firing and we had good session today," Kirsten said.
The former South African international told a questioner that they have nos yet decided about the playing eleven. Replying to another question on playing spinner Pragyan Ojha, he said, "We are looking at all different options."
Asked whether they would bat first or would chose to chase, the ex left-handed opener said, "We will make the decision when the time comes. We will look at the situation and try to get out the good result."
About the behavior of the wicket, Kirsten said, "We saw the wicket obviously in the last game yesterday (Sunday) and we've an idea what it's going to do. We also had a look today (Monday) and got the idea about the pace of the wicket."
On the other hand, Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson strongly said, "We will make 13 in a row," as Pakistan won their previous 12 ODI matches.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh will play the 3rd and last group match of the tournament against India on June 12, also at the SBNS.
After that the top two teams will play in the final slated for June 14, also at the same venue. All the matches are day/night affairs.
Pakistan squad: Shoaib Malik (capt), Salman Butt, Nasir Jamshed, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal (wk), Sohail Khan, Umar Gul, Sohail Tanvir, Rao Iftikhar, Wahab Riaz, Fawad Alam, Bazid Khan and Naumanullah.
India squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Yuvraj Singh, Virendar Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Robin Uttappa, Suresh Raina, M Gani, Yousuf Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Pravin Kumar, RP Singh, Piyush Chawla and Pragyan Ojha.