Pakistan will face India in their second match of the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup on Sunday, June 9, at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York. This marks the latest edition of the famed rivalry between both sides and is set to be one of the most-watched cricket matches of the year.

India enter the fixture on a high, having convincingly defeated Ireland in their first match at the same venue. Pakistan, however, are reeling from a loss to hosts USA in Dallas on Thursday, which renders this fixture a must-win for them to keep their T20 World Cup destiny in their own hands.

One of the focal points of this game will be the pitch. The New York strip has come under intense scrutiny after early games at the ground. All the games have had low scores so far, with Sri Lanka bowled out for just 77. A point of concern has been the variable bounce, with multiple batters being hit on their arms or heads in the India vs. Ireland fixture. This, alongside varying degrees of seam and spin on the different pitches, combined with a slow outfield, has rendered run-scoring very difficult in New York so far – not an ideal spectacle for modern T20 cricket.

India appear to have settled on a batting lineup that does not include Yashaswi Jaiswal, with veterans Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli opening the batting for the 2007 champions. Against Ireland, they played 3 pacers and Hardik Pandya alongside two left-arm spinners, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. Axar was preferred to Kuldeep Yadav, with Ireland not having any specialist left-hand batters, also increasing their batting depth. The presence of Fakhar Zaman in Pakistan’s lineup may encourage them to bring in Kuldeep at Axar’s expense – or perhaps in place one of the pacers if the pitch is more spin-friendly and if they prefer to maintain the batting depth.

Pakistan, meanwhile, come in with a misfiring batting lineup. Against the USA, 3 of the top 4 got out in the powerplay, while captain Babar Azam could only muster 44 at just over a run-a-ball. The struggling Azam Khan and Iftikhar Ahmed further complicate things, while Imad Wasim’s injury hurt the 2009 champions’ batting depth too. If Imad is available again and New York offers up a seam-friendly track, Babar Azam may stick with the four-pacer combination and opt for Imad to replace Azam. If not, Pakistan have few options other than dropping a middle-order batsman for yet another opener in Saim Ayub or bringing in Abrar Ahmed for a pacer.

Fans will be hoping for another hotly contested fixture after the previous meeting between the two sides. In the 2022 T20 World Cup, Pakistan and India faced off in Melbourne, with Virat Kohli’s iconic innings ultimately leading India to victory.

However – the latest weather forecasts for New York show that rain could play spoilsport. According to AccuWeather and other weather models, there are chances of a shower or thunderstorm in the late morning and afternoon.