T20 World Cup 2021: Aakash Chopra picks his Pakistan XI for clash against India, excludes Haider Ali, Asif Ali

Cricketer-turned-expert Aakash Chopra has picked his playing XI for Pakistan for their opening match against India in the T20 World Cup. The blockbuster encounter will take place on Sunday (October 24) at the Dubai International Stadium. Both the sides are coming off from a good win in the warm-up matches. Although Pakistan lost their match against South Africa in their second warm-up game, the team still gave a good account by performing well with the bat in hand.

Meanwhile, India dominated both their matches as they comfortably beat England and Australia. With just three days to go for the mouthwatering clash, Chopra has shared his playing XI of Pakistan on his YouTube channel. The cricketer-turned-expert has excluded batters Haider Ali and Asif Ali from the side. He included veteran all-rounder Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez.

Chopra has also said Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam will open the batting. Both the players are in a rich vein of form in T20Is this year. The players missed out on scoring runs against South Africa but expect them to bounce back against come the main match begins. At one down, Chopra went with Fakhar Zaman. The southpaw scored 52 runs against South Africa and will look to continue with the same.

The cricketer-turned-expert has slotted in Hafeez and Shoaib Malik at number four and five, respectively. The duo has a vast amount of experience under their belt and knows a thing or two about handling key moments during crunch situations.

The former India batter has next included three all-rounders at six seven and eight. Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, and Imad Wasim respectively. Shadab has not been in good form recently and was a tad bit expensive in the warm-up game against South Africa. Still, Chopra has included the leg-spinner in his playing XI.

The expert has rounded off the team by included Shaheen Shah Afridi, Hasan Ali, and Harris Rauf as his three-pace bowling options. India have a clean record against their archrivals as they have defeated them on all five occasions in the T20 World Cups.

Aakash Chopra’s Pakistan playing XI:

Babar Azam (C), Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi