New-look India and Pakistan set to renew old rivalry
With greats having made way, a new generation of cricketers will take centre stage in Dubai
Alagappan Muthu
13-Sep-2025 • 2 hrs ago
Big picture: A new twist on an old tale
The greats are gone. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have to settle for a place on the couch. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan will need to produce tickets to get into the game. A page has inevitably turned - just as it did to bring those four into centre stage - and now it is the time of Abhishek Sharma and Saim Ayub and Salman Agha and Shubman Gill.
In different circumstances, this might have been a salivating prospect. Intriguing at the very least. But Sunday will mark the first time India and Pakistan play against each other in this changed climate after Pahalgam. And maybe as the game goes on and there is a pretty shot or a perfect ball, we'll feel that old flutter. Someone new to root for (or against, because that is fun too). There are plenty of contenders.
Form guide
India: WWWLW (last five T20Is, most recent first)
Pakistan: WWWLW
Pakistan: WWWLW
In the spotlight: Suryakumar Yadav and Salman Agha
In five T20Is against Pakistan, Suryakumar Yadav has never been able to cross the score of 20. Batters who have such an intimate relationship with risk do go through lulls. The thing is, though, breaking out of them might be as easy as connecting one shot in exactly the way they want.
Salman Agha set Pakistan on their path to catch up with the rest of the world, demanding his batters to err on the side of glorious abandon. He isn't exactly a natural when it comes to that either, but over time, the allrounder learnt to tailor his strengths to keep up with the pace of T20 cricket. Four of his eight fifties in the format have come this year.
Team news: India likely to stick with Samson and Kuldeep
With pitches in the UAE tending to play slow, India seem comfortable playing just the one specialist fast bowler in Jasprit Bumrah, with Hardik Pandya and, if needed, Shivam Dube offering seam-bowling cover. That leaves ample room for a left-arm wristspinner (Kuldeep Yadav), a mystery spinner (Varun Chakravarthy) and a containment specialist (Axar Patel).
India (probable): 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Sanju Samson (wk), 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Varun Chakravarthy
Pakistan also have seam-bowling allrounders in their ranks capable of allowing the team to invest heavily in spin, which is what happened in their Asia Cup opener. They may however want to bring Haris Rauf back.
Pakistan (probable): 1 Sahibzada Farhan, 2 Saim Ayub, 3 Fakhar Zaman, 4 Salman Agha (capt), 5 Hasan Nawaz, 6 Mohammad Haris (wk), 7 Mohammad Nawaz, 8 Faheem Ashraf, 9 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 10 Sufiyan Muqeem, 11 Abrar Ahmed
Pitch and conditions: Big match on a hot night
Dubai is not a high-scoring venue. The average run rate in the first innings over the last two years - that's 36 T20s - is 7.7. Fast bowlers have picked up more wickets in this period (277 out of 441) but spinners have been more economical (7.03 vs 8.36). There is no rain expected, but the heat is likely to be stifling.
Stats and trivia
- The team chasing has won seven of the eight T20Is between India and Pakistan since the start of 2014, including the three that have taken place in Dubai
- Hardik Pandya is the leading wicket-taker in the men's T20Is between India and Pakistan, with 13 strikes from six innings. He took three three-fors in those six innings and averages only 12 runs per wicket with the ball.
- Since their previous meeting in T20Is at the T20 World Cup, India have recorded a run rate of 9.66 (third best among Full Members) in men's T20Is, while Pakistan are 8.12 (seventh best among Full Members).
Quotes
"We're very lucky with Sanju, Axar and Hardik - guys who can bat anywhere from up the order to 7-8. So it'll be part of our strategy to use our versatility when conditions are a little bit tough, like we expect them to be."
India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate
India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate
"It's a big game, and fans from both countries care deeply about it. But it's important for us to follow our processes in the same way, and work on improving our execution."
Pakistan batter Saim Ayub
Pakistan batter Saim Ayub
Alagappan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo