The T20 Cricket World Cup 2022 has kicked off spectacularly in Australia. It’s safe to say that the tournament has produced some shocking results in its initial stage itself. First, it was the minnows Namibia who to everyone’s surprise, beat Asia Cup 2022 champions Sri Lanka in the first match of the Super 12 qualifiers.
After suffering two consecutive losses in the first-round qualifiers against associate teams like Scotland and Ireland, the two-time T20 World cup champions West Indies are out of the tournament.
But, for months, cricket fans are awaiting a huge India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup 2022 encounter on 23rd October 2022. The last time the Asian rivals met, India beat Pakistan in the tournament’s opening match at the Asia Cup 2022.
Later, Pakistan fought back in the Super 4 stage of the tournament and knocked India out of the Asia Cup 2022. But the MCG weather forecast does not look good at all for the match to progress.
MCG Weather on Sunday, October 23
As cricket fans all around the world are awaiting this epic clash, the weather gods have sadly decided to intervene. According to the Melbourne weather forecast, the rain will play spoilsport on the 23rd of October as well.
There are 70% to 80% chances of rain with thunderstorms on the entire Sunday. In addition, there are no reserve days for the tournament as well. As per the DLS rules, a team needs to bowl a minimum of 5 overs to determine the result of a T20I game.
Now going by the current weather pattern, a 20-over T20I game looks highly unlikely. It has been raining heavily in Melbourne for the past week and will continue to do so. The fans in the stadium, however, will get a 100% refund if the match completely washes out.
There was also incessant rain during India’s practice match against New Zealand. The practice game Pakistan played against Afghanistan met the same fate. There were a few other practice games as well where rain was the villain.
India vs Pakistan: An epic encounter awaits
Cricket fans were jovial to see the Asian rivals India and Pakistan in the same group for the T20 World Cup 2022. The historic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) will host this fierce encounter. The two teams have 1 each T20I World Cup trophy in their bag.
The last time both Asian rivals met in the T20 World Cup 2022, Pakistan beat India comprehensively by 10 wickets. Captain Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan were the architects of this epic chase. They got enough support from their bowlers too as they restricted India to 152/7 in 20 overs.
But it will be a different ball game on an MCG pitch that traditionally offers pace and bounce. In addition, the long square boundaries at the MCG will test the skills of the batsmen, when it comes to scoring boundaries.
Comparing India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup 2022 squads
Both teams went into the T20 World Cup 2022 with the best possible squad. However, there
“Bumrah is a quality bowler. We spoke to a lot of specialists about his (back) injury but the response was not very positive.
The World Cup is important but his career is more important, he is only 27-28. We could not risk playing him here, that is what the specialists also said. We will miss him,” said Rohit. Bumrah, however, has been replaced by the experienced Mohammad Shami, who himself was fighting Covid, but recovered just in time.
Talking about the Pakistan Cricket Team, they will be very glad to see their ace fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi return after suffering a knee injury.
But his performance during the practice match against Afghanistan caught everyone’s eye. His toe-crushing yorker to Afghanistan batsman Rahmanullah Gurbaz was the talk of the town. Gurbaz was later walking with crutches due to that blow from Afridi.
The Pakistan fans will be hoping to see more of the same from Afridi as the tournament progresses. In the meantime, cricket fans from both countries will be crossing their fingers for the epic match to take place.
