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The squads of India and Pakistan arrived at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday ahead of their much-anticipated clash in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup.
The India-Pakistan rivalry, regarded as one of the most intense contests in international cricket, has once again captured global attention. With both sides eyeing a crucial win in the tournament, expectations are soaring for a thrilling, fiercely contested battle on the field. Both India and Pakistan have played two matches each in the tournament so far and have registered victories in their respective fixtures. While India will enter the contest on the back of wins against the United States of America and Namibia, Pakistan has defeated the Netherlands and the USA. The Suryakumar Yadav-led Indian side currently tops Group A with four points and a Net Run Rate (NRR) of +3.050, while Pakistan are placed second with four points and an NRR of +0.932. During the pre-match press conference on Saturday, the Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav was asked about the challenge of facing the 28-year-old Pakistan spinner. Suryakumar drew a parallel to an unexpected exam question and also emphasised the importance of adaptability when facing a bowler with a unique style. "See, sometimes there is a question in the exam as well, which is out of the syllabus. So, we can't leave that question. To tackle that, you have to try something. You have to adopt your own way. And we try the same way," Suryakumar said. "Yes, he (Usman Tariq) is a different character when he comes to bowl. But at the same time, we can't just surrender. We practice with a similar type of bowlers and with similar actions. And we will try to execute what we are practising in the net sessions during the match," he added. T20 World Cup squads: India Squad: Ishan Kishan(w), Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Abhishek Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar. Pakistan Squad: Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Agha(c), Babar Azam, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Usman Khan(w), Shaheen Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Usman Tariq, Fakhar Zaman, Naseem Shah, Salman Mirza, Khawaja Nafay. (ANI)
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