The stage is set for the high-voltage clash between arch-rivals India and Pakistan which is set to be played on February 23 at the Dubai International stadium.
It will be perfect contest between Pakistan's pace attack and India's batting line-up. Pakistan's troika of Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah will look to test India's star-studded batting tree featuring Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul.
Which Pakistani bowler India will target? Shubman Gill discloses
Right ahead of the highly-anticipated match, India's vice-captain was asked about which Pakistani bowler India will target, to which he said:
"No particular bowler we will target. It will depend on the match situation," Gill said in the pre-match press conference.
However, Pakistan's pacers didn't look in best of the form in their Champions Trophy clash against New Zealand, Shaheen Afridi remained wicketless while conceding 68 runs, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf chipped in with two wickets each but leaked 63 and 83 runs respectively.
Shubman Gill also commented on India versus Pakistan's clash and said that it doesn't change anything.
"India vs Pakistan doesn’t change anything. We play to win every match It's about handling the pressure better," Gill added.
"I don't know if it is overhyped or underhyped. The clash carries a lot of history and there are millions of people who love to watch this game. Who am I to say if it is overhyped or underhyped," he further said.
Pakistan will be heading into the match with a fear of getting knocked out of the tournament as one more loss will see their Champions Trophy's campaign coming to a screeching halt, given their 60-run defeat against New Zealand on February 19. On the other hand, India registered a six-wicket win over Bangladesh in their first match of the Champions Trophy, and will have their sights set on the semifinal berth.
India's squad for the Champions Trophy
Rohit Sharma (capt), Shubman Gill (vice-capt), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakravarthy
Pakistan's updated Champions Trophy squad:
Mohammad Rizwan (c), Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Tayyab Tahir, Faheem Ashraf, Khushdil Shah, Salman Ali Agha, Usman Khan, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi.
