India vs Pakistan Live Score T20 World Cup: Hardik, Shami strikes bring IND back

India vs Pakistan Live Score: GONE! 2nd over the over for Pandya!

What are Pakistan doing! They have gone from being in a strong position to being rickety once again. 

Haider Ali c Yadav b Pandya 2 (4), Pakistan 98/5 in 14 overs

India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup 2022 Live Score: OUT! Pandya strikes now

Angling in from Pandya, Shadab takes it on and sends soaring into the sky. SKY keeps his eyes on it and makes no mistake in pouching it. 

Shadab Khan c Suryakumar b Pandya 5 (6), Pakistan 96/4 in 13.2 overs

IND vs PAK Live Score: OUT! SHAMI GETS IFTIKHAR!

Oh sensation delivery from Shami and that will be the end for Iftikhar. Full and quick surprises Iftikhar and it raps him full on the pads. 

Iftikhar Ahmed lbw b Mohammed Shami 51 (34), Pakistan 91/3 in 12.2 overs

India vs Pakistan Live Score: 50 for Iftikhar! Pakistan 91/2 in 12 overs

It has come in 32 balls and he is on 51 at the end of the 12th. The tables have turned and it has been turned by Iftikhar in these last two overs. 

India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup 2022 Live Score: BACK TO BACK SIXES!

A dot ball after that first six and then two go downtown. The first one clears the fence with ease but the second one brings in some acrobatics at the ropes. Rahul thinks he is in play at long off, tries to palm the ball back inside the ropes in the air but doesn't quite manage that. Extraordinary cricket from Iftikhar. 

IND vs PAK Live Score: SIX! Iftikhar accelarating!

Axar brought in now and his first ball has disappeared. Iftikhar clears his front foot and slog sweeps over wide long on. 

India vs Pakistan Live Score: SIX! Iftikhar with the first of the day!

We are at the 'G allright when the first six comes in the 12th over. Steps out to a flat offbreak from Ashwin and sends it soaring downtown. He takes on the longer boundary and crosses it with aplomb. 50 partnership between these two. 

India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup 2022 Live Score: Iftikhar gets a lifeline!

Well that will go down as a drop at cover from Rohit Sharma but it would have been a contender for catch of the tournament had that stuck. 

IND vs PAK Live Score: 10 overs gone, Pakistan 60/2

Masood is on 29 off 26 balls, Iftikhar on 21 off 21. Bhuvi has just one more over left so we might not see him till the last four overs now that Pakistan have got through the first 10 overs with just two wickets gone. Arshdeep, Shami and Pandya all have two overs left while Ashwin has bowled just one. Axar is yet to bowl and he won't be bowling the 11th, Ashwin comes back for his second. 

India vs Pakistan Live Score: FOUR!

Iftikhar gets it through the gap between deep third and deep backward point. Partnership gets into the 40s now. 

India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup 2022 Live Score: 50 up for Pakistan!

Six runs off the ninth over bowled by Ashwin, making it the first over of spin in this match. No boundaries but Masood did skip down the track and tried going inside out over cover. They could just take two runs off it though. 

IND vs PAK Live Score: Pakistan 44/2 in 8 overs

A semblance of stability now for Pakistan with Masood and Iftikhar putting on 30m runs for the third wicket.  

India vs Pakistan Live Score: DISMISSAL REVERSED!

Well a brilliant catch is what it seemed at the time but replays show that the ball hat hit the ground first. Masood pulls a bouncer from Shami, Ashwin comes running in from fine leg and puts in a dive. India celebrate, Masood stands his ground and the umpires send it upstairs with a soft signal of out. However, the third umpire found enough reason to reverse that, don't see that often. But it was arguably the right decision, Masood survives. 

IND vs PAK Live Score: FOUR! Pakistan 41/2 after 7 overs

145kph bouncer from Pandya, Masood goes for a pull and can only top edge it. But there is no fielder in the fine leg area now so that goes for a boundary. Masood on 24 off 20 and Pakistan desperately need him to hold on. That might just be the fastest ball of the match. 

India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup 2022 Live Score: RUN OUT QUERY!

Hardik Pandya bowling the seventh over and he does brilliantly off the fourth ball to collect the ball and hit the stumps at the striker's end. Masood tries to tuck it away fine, ends up hitting the ball forward and there are no fielders close in so sets off for the run. Pandya is swift as lighting as he gets to the ball and smashes the stumps with it. Replays, however, show that Masood got back in time. 

IND vs PAK Live Score: End of powerplay, Pakistan 32/2

That Shami over went for eight runs and the batters weren't too threatened through the course of it. But this has very much been India's powerplay. Pakistan going at a run rate of 5.33 at the moment. 

India vs Pakistan Live Score: FOUR! 

Shami sends it wide outside off and Masood nails the back cut. The ball doesn't really have any opposition as it runs away to the boundary, good placement of the shot. 

India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup 2022 Live Score: Here is Shami!

Mohammed Shami bowls his first over in T20I cricket since the last T20 World Cup. He came in as a replacement for Jasprit Bumrah, is probably the most experienced bowler in this lineup in international cricket overall, and he can have at a batting lineup that is not too used to a situation where neither Rizwan nor Babar are around before even the powerplay ends. 

IND vs PAK Live Score: FOUR!

Iftikhar hits a tennis forehand-style shot to send Bhuvneshwar to the mid-on boundary. Goodish over at last for Pakistan, nine has come off it and they are 24/2 after five overs. 

India vs Pakistan Live Score: GONE! NOW ARSHDEEP GETS RIZWAN!

This is champagne stuff from Arshdeep. First real bouncer he has gone for, bangs it in short, Rizwan tries to pull but only gets a top edge to fine leg. 

Rizwan c Bhuvneshwar b Arshdeep 4 (12), Pakistan 15/2 in 4 overs

India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup 2022 Live Score: CLOSE ONE FOR RIZWAN!

Rizwan chips one up off Arshdeep off the fifth ball of the third over, Kohli comes running in, puts in the dive but it falls just short of him. 

IND vs PAK Live Score: FOUR! Masood clips it away at last

Much needed for Pakistan. Arshdeep angling it into Masood and the batter cashes in on this easy one. Clips it away for his first boundary. 

India vs Pakistan Live Score: Bhuvi, the Sultan of Swing!

Pakistan 7/1 in 2.2 overs. Bhuvneshwar is making that white cherry swing around corners. He cut Masood in half with the second delivery and then swings it into the left hander with an almost pin-point yorker. Absolutely sensational stuff from India's opening bowlers. 

IND vs PAK Live Score: RUN OUT CHANCE MISSED!

By Virat Kohli of all people, India's best fielder with Ravindra Jadeja not being around. Shan Masood, who is playing by the way, having recovered from that injury, goes for a single that is simply not there. Kohli collects the ball and had an easy direct hit there, Masood was gone even if the former India's skipper ran to the stumps with the ball. But Kohli throughs under armed and misses. 

India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup 2022 Live Score: OUT! BABAR GOLDEN DUCK!

How about it. Arshdeep Singh's first ball in any kind of World Cup and he gets Babar Azam with it. 

Babar Azam lbw b Arshdeep Singh 0 (1), Pakistan 1/1 in 1.1 overs

IND vs PAK Live Score: BABAR GONE FIRST BALL?

LBW appeal from Arshdeep first ball, Babar looked plumb and umpire has given it. Babar takes the DRS. 

India vs Pakistan Live Score: What a first over

Just one run from it, that too because of a wide that Dinesh Karthik did well to hold on to and not go for more. Brilliant start for India. 

India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup 2022 Live Score: Movement and bounce!

Rizwan is in some pain after the second ball. He leaves the first ball that goes away from him, the second one then rushes on to him and raps him on the gloves. Immediately puts down his bats, removes his right glove and rubs the hand on the ground. The physio is out. He is the wicketkeeper as well so not a pretty sight for Pakistan. 

IND vs PAK Live Score: The players walk out

Mohammad Rizwan facing up, Babar Azam at the other end for Pakistan. Bhuvneshwar Kumar with the ball in his hands for India. Here we go then!

India vs Pakistan Live Score: Rohit Sharma is feeling it

Rohit Sharma closes his eyes and smiles and grimaces as the Indian fans blare out the last part of the national anthem. The noise must be painful and magical at the same time and the Indian captain seemed to feel it all. He had a smile on his face throughout the time that the national anthem was being played. 

IND vs PAK Live Score: The National Anthems

Up first is Pakistan's ‘Qaumi Taranah’ and that is followed up by India's ‘Jana Gana Mana’. The two teams are standing shoulder to shoulder with their flags unfurled behind them alongwith the banner of the T20 World Cup. Soak it all in.  

India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup 2022 Live Score: The Blue and Green sea

The MCG is a sight to behold as the officials lead the players out with their mascot kids for the national anthems. This is a festival of cricket allright, the T20 World Cup is well and truly here.  

IND vs PAK Live Score: Here is what Hardik Pandya said

“Have many fond memories here, I made my T20I debut in Australia, and from there the journey has continued. It's good to be back here, you can't get a better place to play sport and enjoy. The body is fine, I think you should put that topic about my body on rest, you will see me bowling. We are playing international cricket, it's not only about Pakistan bowlers. Any team which is playing will have quality bowing at this level, international cricket has certain standards. So we all are aware about it and as a batting unit we have had a word about it. We have worked very hard to come here. The team that plays well, wins the contest.”

India vs Pakistan Live Score: Dinesh Karthik, the comeback king

Just keep the conversations about whether he deserves to play ahead of Rishabh Pant to one side and consider this. DK had become such an important part of the Sky commentary team last year during India's tour of England that many had started to think that he has retired from the sport. He was quite far away from even being considered for India selection. Then came his almost bizarrely good performances for RCB in IPL 2022 down the order and now, the man who made his international debut all the way back in September 2004, might just become the team's X-factor in an ICC tournament being played in 2022 in a format that was not even around when he had started out. Extraordinary. 

India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup 2022 Live Score: No.1 vs No.2

Rizwan is the top-ranked T20I batter in the world at the moment, Suryakumar is second. Both players approach innings in contrasting fashions. Rizwan is conservative at best, some may say a bit too slow for his own good many a times. SKY, on the other hand, likes to go bang bang from the beginning and has succeeded with that approach more often than not this year. 

IND vs PAK Live Score: Pandya will bowl today

The all-rounder says that questions over his fitness should now be put to rest. As stated before, he had that strapping on his right knee but it seems that is not a problem at all for him. It seems the strapping and slight limp was because he had inside-edged a Shardul Thakur delivery on to his knee right at the end of yesterday's nets.

India vs Pakistan Live Score: Pakistan XI

Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Shan Masood, Haider Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Asif Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah

India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup 2022 Live Score: India XI

Rohit Sharma(c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik(w), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh

IND vs PAK Live Score: Babar Azam's thoughts

Toss is not in our hands. We'll try to post around 160-170. We have prepared well, and we are ready for this big game. We won a series back home, we played a tri-series in New Zealand, so we are prepared. We have three fast bowlers and two spinners.

India vs Pakistan Live Score: What Rohit Sharma said

“We are going to field first. Looks like a good pitch, it's always nice with overcast conditions. Think the ball will swing around a bit. Preparations have been good. We played a couple of practice games in Brisbane. Time to come out and enjoy ourselves. We were expecting nothing less than this, hopefully we'll entertain them. We have seven batters, three seamers and two spinners.”

India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup 2022 Live Score: India win the toss…

Rohit Sharma has chosen to field first. “We have seven batters, three seamers and two spinners,” he says amid the utter din at the 'G.

IND vs PAK Live Score: TOSS TIME!

That coin has been wiped clean, Babar and Rohit are in the middle and Ravi Shastri is making his voice boom around the MCG

India vs Pakistan Live Score: Ticking down

Well The Rock is giving a preview of the match as Star Sports role their video for it, and it ends with his trademark eyebrow raise. Now that is not something fans of the WWE's Attitude Era in India or Pakistan would have dreamed of seeing back when Sourav Ganguly and Inzamam-ul-Haq were leading these two teams in big Test matches. 

India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup 2022 Live Score: Virat Kohli, the Big Show

Dropping Virat Kohli was a ludicrous thing to even think about for much of the last 10 odd years but that is exactly what everyone was talking about before the Asia Cup. The former India skipper's strike rate had fallen to an alarming extent and the likes of Deepak Hooda were banging on the door with a century. However, Kohli seems to have got back to his best and somehow, it is with him at the other end that Suryakumar Yadav seems to be at his ballistic best. India have got a formidable batting lineup at the moment to say the least. 

IND vs PAK Live Score: The pitch report

The incomparable Ian Smith and former Aussie captain Michael Clarke are doing the pitch report today. Shorted boundary on the offside itself is 71m long. “Win the toss, I wanna bat first,” says Michael Clarke. He did win a World Cup here so he might know what he is talking about. 

India vs Pakistan Live Score: How can SKY fall?

Surya, Suryakumar, Suryakumar Yadav, SKY… he goes by loads of names and nowadays, he has also been bestowed the tag of ‘best player in the world’ by many former players. Babar Azam, however, was careful not let anyone think that Pakistan were too worried about SKY. “We have plans for each player, not just Surya. We have a plan and hopefully, we can execute them properly,” Babar said on the eve of the match.

India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup 2022 Live Score: Rohit Sharma, the newbie

It is strange to think of Rohit Sharma as a newbie to anything but that is technically what he is here. Rohit maybe the most successful IPL captain of all time and has also led India to the Asia Cup title once but this is the first time he is skipper of the team in a World Cup tournament. For now, he doesn't seem too enthused by how the pitch looks.  

IND vs PAK Live Score: Gavaskar on how to take on Afridi

“Flick or drive him towards onside,” says the batting great on Star Sports. One has to remember that this time, there will be Naseem Shah to alternate with Afridi, which only makes this Pakistan attack more potent. 

India vs Pakistan Live Score: Who is in and who is out

The players are out there training and looking at them is always indicator of who is going to play and who isn't. Rishabh Pant isn't too active at the moment and so there is a very good chance that he won't be in the middle today. Ravichandran Ashwin, on the other hand, is rolling his arms over so it looks like Rohit Sharma has gone with him ahead of Yuzvendra Chahal. 

India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup 2022 Live Score: Crowd watch

Well the stadium is already so noisy that it is playing games with the sound feed of the broadcasters. When does the match start you ask, just under an hour from now. 

IND vs PAK Live Score: The pitch?

Not an official pitch report but Irfan Pathan just said off hand that the pitch looks quite grassy. The two Asia Cup thrillers this year were produced on pitches that helped the fast bowlers so let's hope we see more of that today. 

India vs Pakistan Live Score: Shaheen Shah ‘Shahenshah’ Afridi 

Indian fans will probably never forget that first over that Shaheen Afridi bowled against them last year. This is how he explained how he got those wickets of KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma. “I had observed that Rohit Sharma struggles against the inswing, at that yorker length. In 2021, most of my dismissals were with that length. So I thought to myself, if that's my strength why not use it against him in the first ball that bowl to him. For KL Rahul, I happened to be standing with Shoaib Malik. He asked me if the ball was swinging, and I said, not much. He asked me to not try the yorker ball but the length ball and it might just nip back in. I tried it and that's exactly what happened. I owe that wicket to Shoaib Malik.”

India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup 2022 Live Score: The stats that matter

There have been 11 T20I matches between these two Asian giants. India have won eight and Pakistan have won three. In the T20 World Cup, they have played six and five have been won by India. However, the last match, as stated before, was a convincing win for Pakistan to say the least.

IND vs PAK Live Score: The great Asia Cup mess

BCCI secretary Jay Shah thought that this is the best time to announce that India won't be travelling to Pakistan for next year's Asia Cup and won't play in the tournament unless it is relocated. Incidentally, he was the president of the Asian Cricket Council when the tournament was awarded to Pakistan. It led to a lot of angry reactions from ex-Pakistani cricketers and is bound to play some role in today's narrative. Among Indians, it is only captain Rohit Sharma who has said anything, stating that it is pretty useless to talk about this in a press conference before the match and that the players will play wherever the BCCI tells them to. 

India vs Pakistan Live Score: Little Miss Sunshine

It may be a strange thing to call one of the biggest stadiums in the world this name but that is what it is looking like at the moment. Word from the ground is that there are clear blue skies up above the 'G so high. 

India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup 2022 Live Score: A clash of styles

It wasn't too long ago that India were choosing to conserve wickets as much as possible before making a hot dash for it in the last five overs, if possible. However, that strategy became a confused mess in the 2021 T20 World Cup and since Rohit Sharma has taken over, they have decided to go the other way, smack the leather out of the ball in the powerplay and then settle in, before another round of smacking in the death overs. Pakistan, meanwhile, work best when Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan score big and their method of scoring big, is exploiting gaps and running between the wickets. In a way, they are reliant on the method that India abandoned, and so far they are doing a good job with it. 

IND vs PAK Live score: Rain check

Cloudy. Medium (60%) chance of showers, most likely later this evening. The chance of a thunderstorm in the northeast suburbs. Winds southeasterly 20 to 30 km/h: This is what Australia's Bureau of Meteorology has to say about the weather today in Melbourne. This is the lowest chance of rain they have reported in the last four days so that's good news. For now, it is quite cloudy in Melbourne but no sign of rain yet. 

India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup Live: India's bowling attack

Question marks everywhere, though its more around what combination India can pick than form of the bowlers. Yes, Arshdeep Singh and Bhuvneshwar Kumar conceded runs in the death overs but that was in conditions that weren't too conducive to fast bowling, or any kind of bowling for most parts. It seems almost assured that these two will take the new ball, followed most probably by Mohammad Shami. If India prioritise batting depth, they might go for Ravichandran Ashwin ahead of Yuzvendra Chahal but that decision really depends upon what they see in the pitch. If they do go with Chahal, they might be tempted to go with Harshal ahead of Shami on the basis of the former being a far more effective tail ender. 

IND vs PAK T20 World Cup Live: India's injuries

For now, there are now injuries to report in the Indian camp, although it has to be noted that the word from the 'G is that Hardik Pandya was wearing strapping on his right knee and seemed to be limping a little bit this morning.  

India vs Pakistan live score: Shan Masood's injury

Shan Masood won't be available to play for Pakistan today, which was probably a given. The important thing is that he seems to be doing fine. For those that don't know, the Pakistan batter was struck on the right side of his head by a shot during a nets session. The latest update overnight from the PCB team in Australia is that Masood’s neurological observations are normal. The CT scan revealed a superficial bruising in the area where he struck, but he is currently asymptomatic. The batter will undergo a concussion re-test tomorrow.

T20 World Cup live score: Suryakumar Yadav

He has scored 801 runs in 23 T20Is this year alone, which includes a century, at a frankly ludicrous strike rate of 184.56. His career T20I stats currently stand at 1045 runs scored in 34 T20Is at a strike rate of 176.81. He is in the kind of form that leads to opposition captains being asked if they have made any special plans for him, as was the case for Babar Azam. 

IND vs PAK Live score: Pakistan full squad

Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Shan Masood, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Asif Ali, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Fakhar Zaman

India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup Live: India full squad

Rohit Sharma(c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik(w), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Rishabh Pant, Yuzvendra Chahal, Deepak Hooda

IND vs PAK T20 World Cup Live: The two matches this year

India-Pakistan matches in recent years have been more about the loud, and rather jingoistic, build-ups than the actual matches itself. Most of the time, the games end up becoming one-sided blow-outs, with India on the right side of those for much of the time since the last bilateral series between the two in 2013, and Pakistan winning a few in recent years. That wasn't the case this year though. Both matches that they played in the Asia Cup were close affairs, with Pakistan pulling off quite an extraordinary chase in the second of those. India had won the first match five wickets while Pakistan won the second by the same margin. 

India vs Pakistan live score: Hello and welcome!

It is time for part three of this rivalry for which fans seem to have an insatiable appetite. With India and Pakistan not really playing bilaterals with each other any more, it is in these tournaments that fans on either side of the border get to really see what is happening with each other's cricket teams. Pakistan showed that India, or at least Indian fans, had grossly underestimated their team when they ran out to a 10-wicket win in the last T20 World Cup. Since then, names like Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam have been taken with a bit of fear and reverence in Indian cricket circles. All four of these players and more are available for Pakistan today and India themselves, for now, don't have any injuries apart from those that were revealed before the tournament itself. Rain could play a role, but it doesn't really threaten the whole match itself anymore. Hey, it is India vs Pakistan, it is the T20 World Cup, sit back and enjoy!