'Should make for a...' - MCG pitch curator on nature of surface for India-Pakistan T20 WC clash

There isn't much time before the India-Pakistna T20 World Cup 2022 clash gets underway. Ahead of the big-ticket encounter, there has been a lot of talk regarding the weather conditions in Melbourne. One can expect rain showers to interrupt the match but it shouldn't be a rain-abandoned encounter. A rain-curtailed contest can be on cards for the high-voltage clash at the MCG, Melbourne.

The cricket lovers from both sides are also eager to know the pitch conditions for the marquee encounter. The last time both sides met each other in the T20 WC, Babar Azam-led Pakistan made early inroads as Shaheen Afridi got enough assistance in the early overs and bowled the right lengths to rattle India's top order. After India managed to post 151-7, Pakistan chased down the score with ten wickets in hand, courtesy of openers Babar and Md Rizwan's unbeaten half-centuries.

Here's the expected pitch conditions at the MCG, Melbourne for the T20 WC marquee clash

ALSO READ |T20 World Cup 2022: India vs Pakistan, Live Cricket Streaming: When and where to watch epic face-off?

Ahead of the match, MCG pitch curator Michael Salvatore has said that the wicket will remain consistent throughout the course of the game. "T20 wickets are usually really consistent for the whole match. So it should make for a really good game. We have brought it from our wicket nursery which is just outside the ground. It's literally 200 meters outside the ground so we can move and monitor and maintain the wickets all year around. And the wickets were installed three weeks ago," Salvatore said during an interaction with A Sports.

"So we have drop-in wickets here at the MCG. So for the cricket season we bring the wickets in and I sit on some sand and bed in nicely. And then once cricket finishes, we have got the football stadium. We have the ability to take them out and put them up in our special week anniversary where we can look after and maintain them," he added.

India and Pakistan are placed in Pool B in the Super 12 round, along with Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Netherlands.