My India’s XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj
If India bats first:
If India bats first, Gill & Kishan should do the opening with Suryakumar at one-down. They can make the most of the powerplay and would give India a strong start.
This is how India’s batting order should be:
- Gill
- Kishan
- Surya
- Rohit
- Kohli
- Hardik
- Jadeja
- Shardul
- Bumrah
- Shami
- Siraj
1-15 overs: Gill, Kishan, Surya
15-35 overs: Rohit, Kohli
35-50 overs: Hardik, Jadeja, Shardul
If India plays like this, we can easily achieve 325+ score which is enough to win the match considering our strong bowling attack. Gill, Kishan, and Surya can give us 125 runs on the board in the first 15 overs, then Rohit & Virat will take us to 250 runs till 35 overs and to finish off strongly, Hardik, Jadeja and Shardul can carry us to 350 runs on the board in the final 15 overs.
Gill, Kishan, and Surya should play their natural attacking game as to make the most of the fielding restrictions in the powerplay. They should bat as if they are playing T20 and not ODI. To control the game, we have the experience of Rohit and Virat in the middle-overs to hold the wickets and keep scorecard moving slowly and steadily. They should be as if they are playing Test match and not ODI as wickets would be important at that stage. Again, in the last 15 overs, Hardik, Jadeja, and Shardul should once again play as if they are playing T20 as runs would be needed aggressively in the last 10-15 overs to cross 325.
This should be the strategy to put runs on the board if we bat first and our players are capable of doing this if they play to the best of their abilities and one should be at their best when the game is of utmost intensity like India vs Pakistan.
If India bowls first:
If we bowl first, we must restrict them to below 200 to chase down easily and make a statement to the world that we have the best bowling attack of the world. This is how our bowling pairs and schedule should be:
1-15: Bumrah, Siraj, Shami
16-35: Shardul, Hardik, Jadeja
36-50: depending on the scenario
Average number of wickets expected from our each bowler:
- Bumrah: 3
- Siraj: 1
- Shami: 1
- Shardul: 2
- Hardik: 2
- Jadeja: 1
Expecting atleast 2 wickets from Bumrah in the opening spell, and Shardul to give the breakthrough in the middle overs. Our bowling attack is so strong that if they perform at their level best, we can all out them in less than 25 overs. We have seen many times in T20s & Tests that these players amaze us by taking quick wickets and making opposition’s batting span so short that chasing becomes easy and the match becomes one-sided in their favor.
Whatever it might be, whether we bowl first or bat first, we should focus on winning, after all, its India vs Pakistan, the memories of these matches register in minds of the involved ones, be it players or fans, the memories become unforgettable and gets placed in the subconscious mind for a long time or maybe forever. Being a cricket fan since childhood, I read the games very well and have versed the above strategies from experience, so hopefully India will do the magic of winning this classic and make us proud.
