World Cup 2019, Match 22, India vs Pakistan: Why India will win the match

The title contenders, India will clash with their arch-rivals, Pakistan in the 22nd match of ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 at Old Trafford in what promises to be a cracker of a game. India’s World Cup campaign has got off to a great start. They have defeated the heavyweights South Africa and Australia in the group stage and now the Pakistani team awaits them next.

Pakistan’s World Cup campaign has been as unpredictable as was expected by the fans. They lost their first match to a team which had to play the ICC World Cup Qualifiers to reach the World Cup and then the Men in Green defeated world’s best ODI team, England in their 2nd match. Pakistan suffered a loss against Australia in their previous encounter and hence, they have no momentum by their side.

The only positives for Pakistan from that fixture were Wahab Riaz’s growth as an all-rounder and Mohammad Amir’s return to form. But, when the Pakistanis take the field to play against team India, all of their 11 players will have to perform their best to give their team a chance.

India has always dominated Pakistan at the Cricket World Cup and if recent form and records are anything to go by, Virat Kohli’s men will prevail over those of Sarfaraz Ahmed’s at Old Trafford. The Men in Blue have in-form batsmen like Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya and Rohit Sharma, who will have the support of the world’s most dangerous bowling combination of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. Jasprit Bumrah is the icing on the cake and will try and wash off the load of the no-ball which had cost India the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy. The only downside for India is the injury to Shikhar Dhawan, who had scored a century in India' last match against the Aussies.

It will take a special effort from the Pakistani side to ensure that their team breaks the losing streak against India but on paper, this feat looks unlikely. On one side, India have a plethora of players in form whereas Pakistan heavily depends on Amir, Riaz, Imam Ul Haq and Mohammad Hafeez.

The Pakistan team’s other players have done nothing noteworthy and the same performance can be expected when they play India. The team’s most experienced players, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Shoaib Malik are not shouldering the team’s responsibilities well while Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam have not fulfilled fan’s expectations. They will find it hard to tackle the Indian bowling attack and hence, India are the favourites to win the 22nd match of this tournament

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