Top Line
The Indian men’s cricket team will face arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday in their group stage match at the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in Long Island, New York, which is expected to be one of the most-watched sporting events of the year.
India’s star batsman Virat Kohli led the team to victory over Pakistan in the 2022 T20 World Cup. … [+]
Key Facts
This high-profile clash, and all matches in the current tournament, will be played in the “Twenty20” (T20) format – the newest and shortest format of international cricket, with matches usually lasting around three-and-a-half hours.
The match will be played at a temporary stadium set up at Eisenhower Park in Nassau County, but the pitch has been controversial due to its unpredictable and “dangerous” bounce, which threatened to injure India captain Rohit Sharma during the opening match against Ireland.
The International Cricket Council later released a statement saying a “world-class grounds team” was working to repair the pitch ahead of Sunday’s big match.
India have a 6-1 record against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup, including a famous win in the inaugural final in South Africa in 2007.
India’s only loss to Pakistan came in the pandemic-postponed 2021 edition, which also marked Pakistan’s first World Cup win against their arch rivals in any format of cricket.
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Big numbers
$52,000. This is the highest resale price (including fees) for a ticket for Sunday’s match. Tickets for the India vs Pakistan World Cup are always highly sought after, but the soaring ticket prices for the match in New York have been criticised by cricket fans and former administrators alike. The ICC has set the price of tickets for the match between $300 and $10,000, but the cheapest tickets on the resale market start at around $830. The high ticket prices, combined with expensive parking fees, have raised concerns that there could be empty seats at the most anticipated cricket match of the year. Some fans have pointed out on social media that tickets for the group stage matches are more expensive than tickets for the NBA Finals.
tangent
India-Pakistan matches are often highly political spectacle. Earlier this week, CNN reported that both the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI were taking precautions to thwart any isolated attacks by an affiliate of ISIS-K, the South Asian branch of the Islamic State terrorist group. Late last month, New York Governor Kathy Hockle issued a statement saying that her office was closely monitoring the situation and had instructed the New York State Police to “increase security measures, including increased law enforcement, heightened surveillance and a thorough vetting process.” However, the increased security has led to complaints from fans. South African cricket journalist Neil Manthorpe described his experience entering the stadium at a previous match as “very intimidating…it was like a battlefield, with combat troops with military assault rifles.”
Points to note
India and Pakistan are in Group A along with three other teams: USA, Canada and Ireland. The top two teams will advance to the next round, the Super 8. As this is the first T20 World Cup for USA and Canada and Ireland is a lower ranking team, India and Pakistan were expected to advance comfortably to the Super 8 and the result of Sunday’s match was pure bragging rights. However, Pakistan’s shock loss to USA in Dallas on Thursday has raised the stakes for Sunday’s match and one more loss could put Pakistan on the brink of first round elimination.
Amazing facts
In India, 173 million viewers watched on television and 225 million on Disney’s Hostar streaming platform to watch the two teams’ final match in the 50-over World Cup in October last year. 50-over matches are longer than Twenty20, with each match typically lasting around eight hours. Apart from Twenty20 and 50-over one-day games, cricket has a third format – Test cricket. Tests are the sport’s oldest and most prestigious format, with matches played over five days.
References
US cricket team scores historic upset victory over Pakistan in T20 World Cup (Forbes)
India vs Pakistan: The biggest sports stories Americans don’t care about explained (Forbes)
