
Virat Kohli will be a key player for India against Paksitan in the first T20 at Bangalore © Getty Images
Bangalore: Dec 25, 2012
When India and Pakistan hit the field on Tuesday, cricketing ties between the two sides would have resumed after four years. The two teams play two Twenty20s and three ODIs starting on Tuesday.
India have an edge going into the game as they recently came very close to going to the pinnacle of ICC T20 rankings and have often risen to the occasion in matches against Pakistan. Pakistan, on the other hand, will be looking to avenge their recent defeat to India in the T20 World Cup.
On the Bangalore wicket, that offers a bit of bounce, India have picked three seamers. Ishant Sharma comes in for Ravichandran Ashwin while Bhuvaneshwar Kumar has been handed a debut in place of Parvinder Awana. Ravindra Jadeja replaces Piyush Chawla.
India: Gautam Gambhir, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Ravindra Jadeja, Ashok Dinda, Ishant Sharma
Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez(c), Ahmed Shehzad, Nasir Jamshed, Kamran Akmal (wk), Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Irfan