Pakistan vs India: The battle begins.

It's time for Pakistan vs India. It's time for the biggest Cricket series of all. Although it's a short tour still this is significant in many ways. This is the revival of one of the biggest rivalries in sports. It's the first series between the two countries after a gap of almost 5 years.

There are people who actually rate this higher than the Ashes and no matter what the format and where the series is played the enthusiasm is always at its peak. 

 Pakistan has selected a balanced squad for both the T20 and ODI series. 

Twenty 20 squad: Mohammad Hafeez, Nasir Jamshed, Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal, Umar Amin, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Irfan, Junaid Khan, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Asad Ali, Zulfiqar Babar, Ahmed Shehzad.

ODI squad: Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Hafeez, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Haris Sohail, Kamran Akmal, Saeed Ajmal, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, Umar Gul, Imran Farhat, Umar Akmal, Anwar Ali, Zulfiqar Babar. 

If we look at the squad Pakistan have changed their strategy this time and concentrated more on their fast bowling squad keeping the fact in mind that Indians play spin better than all the teams present and that they are the team most vulnerable to quality fast bowling. A total of 7 fast bowlers have been included in both the teams selected.

Mohammad Irfan has been selected as a surprise package for both the formats. With his height and the bounce he generates, Irfan can be handful in the Indian conditions. Umar Gul, although hasn't been performing well but has been selected because of his experience. Junaid Khan recently has been emerging as the spear head of Pakistan fast bowling and was an automatic selection for both the formats. Wahab Riaz, Asad Ali,  Sohail Tanvir and Anwar Ali are also there to support.

Our batting department may look slightly on the weaker side and lack the fire power but Younis Khan has been brought back in the ODI team to strengthen the batting. Asad Shafiq's injury made it sure that Azhar Ali and Misbah ul Haq will have to do the supporting role in the middle overs.

With a settled batting pair of Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed in the ODI matches Imran Farhat has been brought back as the third option in this format while Ahmed Shehzad will serve the same purpose in the T20 matches. The hard hitting Haris Sohail and Umar Akmal has been added to lessen the deficiency created by the dropping of Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq.

Spin bowling, which has been Pakistan's stronger point over the past couple of years looks less threatening of with the dropping of Afridi in the ODI series and the unavailability of Abdur Rehman and Raza Hasan. Zulfiqar Babar, the veteran left armer has been added after a consistent performance in the domestic circuit to strengthen the spin department.

Here is a look at some of the stats. (The stats for the T20 have not been included because of the less number of matches.) 

• Both the teams have played a total of 121 ODI matches against each other and Pakistan has a clear edge over India as they have won 69 matches and lost 48. In the shortest format of the game both the teams have played 3 matches with India winning two and one match was tied.

• Sachin Tendulkar is the leading run scorer overall between the two teams with 2526 runs in ODI matches with an average of 40.09. Inzamam ul Haq is the leading run scorer from the Pakistan side with 2403 runs at an impressive average of 43.69. 

• Wasim Akram is the leading wicket  taker with 60 wickets in 48 matches with an average of 25.15. From the Indian side Anil Kumble is the highest wicket taker with 54 wickets in 34 matches at an average of 24.25.

• Moin Khan as expected is the wicket keeper involved in most of the dismissals with as many as 71. Which include 58 catches and 13 stumpings. MS Dhoni has the most dismissals against Pakistan as a wicket keeper with 31 (25 catches, 6 stumpings).

• Muhammad Azharuddin leads the catches tally with 44 catches in 64 matches. Shahid Afridi has held the most catches from the Pakistani side with 30 catches in 65 matches.

• India's highest score against Pakistan is 356 while their lowest score is 79 runs. Pakistan's highest score against India is 344 which they scored in the first ODI of the 2003-04 series while the lowest is 87.

• Pakistan score their runs at an average of 32.79/wicket and at a run rate 5.16/over against India. While India score their runs at an average of  29.98/wicket and run rate of 4.90/over.

Although India has and edge over Pakistan for the past 5 years or so and overall Pakistan has always has always dominated India. it will still come down to the 'team who plays better on the day' and the 'team who handles the pressure better'. Let's hope that's the case in this series too and Pakistan are able to perform to the best of their abilities and comes back victorious and make us proud.