Key events
Huge flags on the outfield held by volunteers. The teams in front of them. The anthems play out, voices rolling around the amphitheatre in waves. Goosebump moment.
The fireworks go off – the literal ones – and the bowl of the MCG is filled with smoke. It dissipates quickly in the cool swirling Melbourne air. This is October, not yet summer, so it’s not freezing but it’s on the brisk side.
So much of today’s result will come down to the pairing between Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan at the top of Pakistan’s batting order. They are the most prolific pair in history, with 2313 runs together for Pakistan at an average of 53.
Mind you, second spot goes to Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, with 1809 runs at 51.
People on the internet might have a set against Virat Kohli, but the difference in crowd response when he appeared on the big screen compared to every other Indian player tells you that he’s by far the favourite with the average spectator in the crowd.
Teams
Pakistan
Babar Azam *
Mohammed Rizwan +
Shan Masood
Shadab Khan
Haider Ali
Iftikhar Ahmed
Mohammed Nawaz
Asif Ali
Shaheen Afridi
Naseem Shah
Haris Rauf
India
Rohit Sharma *
KL Rahul
Virat Kohli
Suryakumar Yadav
Hardik Pandya
Dinesh Karthik
Axar Patel
Ravichandran Ashwin
Mohammed Shami
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Arshdeep Singh
Right then. I’m told that Rohit said the overcast conditions made him hope for swing, hence bowling first. Babar thinks that 160 could be competitive – could be right, given the MCG pitch is often a bit slow, and the boundaries are so big.
India win the toss and will bowl
Another mighty roar as Rohit Sharma benefits from the falling coin. He’ll choose to field. Why, I can’t tell you, because I cannot hear a word he says over the noise of the crowd. Anyone on TV got a quieter line? Babar Azam gets a pretty decent cheer as well when it’s his turn to speak.
Wowwww! A huge roar at the ground as Ravi Shastri appears on the big screen to conduct the toss. He’s back.
Drop me a line: my email is geoff.lemon@theguardian.com, or I’m on the tweets at @GeoffLemonSport. There’s often not much time during a T20, but we’ll try to get some reader contributions into the coverage if you have something interesting or original to add. Consider the gauntlet thrown down.
What about the weather? The talking point for the last few days has been the likelihood of rain. We had lots of it on Friday night, some more on Saturday and Saturday night, but none so far today. And the radar for now looks clear! Happy days and happy nights.
Preamble
Geoff Lemon
Here we go! The most populous rivalry in world cricket, in front of a crowd the likes of which we may not have seen before. Coming to you live from the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and I can tell you that it is heaving inside and out. The seats look about three quarters full with more than half an hour until the first ball, and the crowd outside was immense on the way in, with stages and bands and performers and all the trimmings. The noise in here, with the windows open up on the broadcast level, is impressive. And that’s just people chatting and catching up.
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