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Pakistan captain Younis Khan won the toss and decided to bat first in the warm-up game against India at Kennington Oval, London. This may be warm-up game but the excitement around fans is very high.

Pakistan was 2/1 at the end of first over. Praveen Kumar bowled Shahzaib Hasan for duck to give India first breakthrough of the game.

Virendra Sehwag and Zaheer Khan are still not recovered from injury so these two have to sit out for this game. While Yuvraj Singh is fit and he will play in today’s game.

Here is the final list of Players playing in this game:

India Squad: Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (Captain & Wicketkeeper), Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh, P.Ojha, P.Kumar.

Pakistan Squad: Shahzaib Hasan, Ahmed Shehzad, Younis Khan (Captain), Kamran Akmal (Wicketkeeper), Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Yasir Arafat, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Aamer, Fawad Alam, Sohail Tanvir.

Earlier Post

After the loss in the first warm-up game for both the teams they will look to register win in their last warm-up game before beginning their world twenty20 campaign. India lost to New Zealand by 9 runs in their first warm up game while Pakistan beaten comprehensively by South Africa with the margin of 59 runs.

The manner in which Pakistan loss the game is really sad while India loss the game to New Zealand because of some bad shot selection by their batsman and some poor bowling in the depth overs of the innings.

ICC already designated the game between India and Pakistan as “Catch the Spirit”, a fundraiser for the Lahore official victims and to help support the families of the victims of the attack on the Sri Lankans team in Lahore in March. So the game between India and Pakistan will not only help peoples of Pakistan and Sri Lanka but will also provide an ample entertainment for the crowds.

Both teams will be eying a win before entering the main phase of the 2020 world cup. A win here will not only boost the morale of the team but also help some of the players to carry the momentum forward into the tournament.

The loss to New Zealand in the first warm-up game on Monday is not the only cause of worry for Team India. Injuries to key players are taking a toll on the best playing XI. M.S.Dhoni is hoping that Zaheer, Yuvraj and Sehwag will be fit before the first twenty20 world cup game against Bangladesh on June 6^th. However Zaheer is likely to miss the first game also as he needs more time to recover from his shoulder injury.

Some sources also revealed that few Indian players will be fit only by second phase of the tournament.

With Zaheer Khan out of the equation India is likely to go into the match with R.P.Singh, Ishant Sharma and Irfan Pathan while Harbhajan and P.Ojha will carry the loads of spin department.

Younis Khan on the other hand hoping that their players didn’t repeat the same mistakes that they did against South Africans. They look out of idea in the game. Not only their bowling looks wayward but their batting and fielding were really below par. They dropped too many catches and also made lapses in the field to concede few easy boundaries to South Africa.

As always we can expect a cracker of game between these two teams at Oval.

Pitch & Conditions

The pitch at Kennington Oval, London at this time of year is really dry and will help the spinners. So M.S.D might think to utilize the opportunity by playing both the spinners. Seamers will also get help from the wicket. Any score between 160-170 will be competitive total on this wicket.

Team News

Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh and Sehwag is still doubtful for today’s game. That means Dhoni has no other option than playing with same team that played against New Zealand in the last game at Lords.

On the other hand Pakistan will be looking for improvement from their players and some of the players who didn’t get chance in the previous warm-up against South Africa might play against India. However Pakistan will play with best XI to take revenge of Twenty20 World Cup loss to India.

Likely Playing XII for both teams (Match is schedule to begin at 22:00 PM India Time on 3^rd Of June)

India Squad: Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (Captain & Wicketkeeper), Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh, P.Ojha, P.Kumar.

Pakistan Squad: Younis Khan (Captain), Fawad Alam, Kamran Akmal (Wicketkeeper), Misbah-ul-Haq, Saeed Ajmal, Salman Butt, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Umar Gul, Yasir Arafat, Mohammad Aamer, Sohail Tanveer.

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