Better watch out for Afridi

India's Virat Kohli(R) shakes hands with Pakistan's captain Shahid Afridi during a training session at The Eden Gardens Cricket Stadium in Kolkata 

Kolkata: In one of the most awaited and exciting fixture of the T-20 World Cup, the Indian Men’s team will face Pakistan at Eden Gardens in Kolkata this evening.

After losing the first ICC World T20 Super 10 clash against New Zealand at Nagpur by 47 runs, the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Team India will play under pressure to register a win against their arch rivals.

Former India captain and legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev said team India better watch out for Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi in today’s clash.

“India obviously are under pressure after the loss to New Zealand and Pakistan gave a peep into their potential with the win over Bangladesh, a result that reflected on the strength of Shahid Afridi’s explosive batting abilities. His announcement of form was the best thing to happen to the Pakistan camp and India better watch out for his range of shots can hurt the best of bowlers,” he said.

“An India-Pakistan cricket match is a spectacle in both the countries, not to forget the tremendous interest it generates across the globe. A packed Eden Gardens can look forward to some high-voltage cricket. How would Afridi fare against Jasprit Bumrah? How would Virat Kohli handle the bounce that Mohammed Irfan extracts? It would be worth discovering on Saturday. I feel sad for the cricket fans of Dharamsala, but the game has come to one of the iconic venues of world cricket, Kapil Dev writes.

The legendary cricketer also picked his best-5 India-Pakistan clashes:

Melbourne, 1985, World Championship of Cricket: We won the final comfortably beating Pakistan the second time in the tournament. Laxman Sivaramakrishnan’s bemusing spell is still vivid.

Sharjah, 1985, Rothmans Cup: We were bowled out for 125, but hit back to skittle Pakistan for 87. The highlight was four catches by Sunil Gavaskar.

Sharjah, 1986, Austral-Asia Cup: Heartbreak for India, losing off the last ball-six by Javed Miandad. But what a stirring game of cricket!

Bangalore, 1996, World Cup: A fantastic victory for India. Can’t forget Ajay Jadeja’s knock (45 off 25 balls) and Venkatesh Prasad dismissing Aamer Sohail to swing the match.

Centurion, 2003, World Cup: Pakistan set India a stiff target, but Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag gave a scintillating start that dictated India’s victory march.