Exclusive! India or Pakistan? John Buchanan predicts winner of the high-octane clash

As India take on arch-rivals Pakistan in a contest that is expected to be fiery, the Virat Kohli & Co. begin their ICC Men's T20 World Cup campaign at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday (October 24). Get LIVE updates here!

Ahead of the match, the two-time World Cup-winning coach John Buchanan predicted the winner of this marquee clash. During an exclusive chat with WION's Digvijay Singh Deo in a special show 'Desert Storm'. 

He said, "I'll stick with India they have too many strengths all around the park. Pakistan lack quality spin and there are many challenges around their batting".

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Buchanan also spoke about former Indian skipper MS Dhoni as team's mentor. As he said, "Dhoni is just an incredible player and an incredible leader. His presence is really important. He is a calming influence, he is good at summing out situations and pretty clear at what needs to be done."

"It's nice to have that sort of presence around the dressing room when things are not going the right way. If Dhoni's play that kind of a role, which he would, he will help the team."

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As far as the match is concerned, Pakistan's Babar Azam won the toss and opted to bowl first. During the toss, he said, "We are going to bowl first. We'll look to take early wickets and put pressure. Dew is also a factor."

"We have had good practice sessions and am confident about our preparations. Pakistan's bowlers are known to trouble other teams but I am confident about our batting too."

Playing XI:

India: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli(c), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah

Pakistan: Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi