Pakistan tour of India: 1st ODI preview, team news and match timing

India and Pakistan are set to battle it out at the M.A.Chidambaram stadium on Sunday, 30th Dec. With honours even at the end of the two T20 internationals, each team would be vying to wrest initiative at Chennai. Like all India-Pakistan contests, the two T20 games were also close encounters which went down to the wire. Cricket fans around the world can expect all the thrills and chills at Chepauk as well.

The only sore point is that the weather could play spoilsport as rains are expected over the weekend. One sometimes wonders the logic behind scheduling a match at Chennai during the winter season. However, should the rain gods relent a cracker of a contest is in the offing. All the tickets have been sold out and the atmosphere in the stadium would be electric.

Team news:

For India, Sehwag should replace Rahane at the top of the order. Bhubhaneshwar Kumar, who bowled an impressive spell in the first Twenty-20, could receive his first ODI call up. Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez admitted that Ashwin’s omission worked in their favour in the first T20. Ashwin came back in the second match to contain the run rate and pick up the important wicket of Jamshed.

Pakistan have a more or less settled lineup and could make minor changes to their lineup. 27-year old fast bowler Wahab Riaz could come in place of Sohail Tanveer who struggled to contain the Indian batsmen at Ahmedabad. The Indian batsmen struggled to read the seven-foot tall fast bowler Mohammad Irfan in the two T20 matches and he could continue to trouble them on Sunday.

India’s probable lineup: Sehwag, Gambhir, Kohli, Raina, Yuvraj, Rohit, Dhoni, Ashwin, Dinda, Kumar, Sharma.

Pakistan’s probable lineup: Jamshed, Shehzad, Akmal, Hafeez, Afridi, Akmal, Malik, Gul, Riaz, Ajmal and Irfan.

Match timing: 09.00 IST

Tags: Dhoni, EPL, India, Pakistan, Preview, Sehwag, Yuvraj

Category: Cricket