Melbourne Cricket Ground pitch report: The SportsRush brings you the pitch report of the India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup match.
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Melbourne Cricket Ground is ready to host the blockbuster match between India and Pakistan on Sunday. This will be the first match of the T20 World Cup 2022 for both sides.
India will be led by Rohit Sharma, who will be captaining in his very first ICC tournament. Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav will play a huge part in the tournament for the Indian side, and the importance of Hardik Pandya is second to none. The emergence of Mohammed Shami is a boost for the side.
ALSO READ: Weather report of Melbourne for IND vs PAK match
Pakistan got a huge boost ahead of the tournament when Shaheen Shah Afridi proved his fitness in the warm-up match against Afghanistan. The bowling of the side looks great, but the team relies too much on the batting duo of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan.
Melbourne Cricket Ground pitch report
Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne is one of the most iconic stadiums in the world, and this ground has helped both batters and bowlers in the past. A drop-in pitch will be used in Melbourne, and it will have a good amount of bounce which will encourage the bowlers to play their shots.
Under the lights, the pacers will be able to swing in the ball in the initial overs of the match. In terms of the ground dimensions, the MCG is one of the biggest stadiums in the world, and the batters will have to use their strength in order to clear the boundaries at the venue.
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The spinners can use the bigger boundaries to their strength, and they can be deadly in the middle-overs. This ground’s outfield is fast enough, and the batters can take advantage of it. In International matches, the average 1st innings T20I score in 14 T20Is played here is just 141 runs.
However, this pitch was excellent for batting in the last BBL season, where a total of 10 games were played here. Out of 10 matches, 5 were won by the chasing teams and 5 were won by the teams batting first. The average 1st innings score was 171 runs, and Melbourne Stars once scored 273 runs in their innings.
A fresh pitch will be used for the India and Pakistan match, and a high-scoring encounter can be on the cards. Both captains may opt to bowl first looking at the overcast conditions in mind.
