Axar Patel or Kuldeep Yadav: Who should be part of India's playing XI for Pakistan match?

As New York prepares to host Pakistan and India in their T20 World Cup clash, former Indian batter Wasim Jaffer has shared his thoughts on which spinner should be skipper Rohit Sharma's pick for the June 9 match.

The pitch at New York's Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, which will host the Pakistan and India's match, has so far favoured the fast bowlers so much so that the teams which have played there have struggled to cross even the 100-run mark.

Therefore, Jaffer believes that India should go with Axar Patel instead of Kuldeep Yadav as the former might turn out to be effective and the latter might struggle to take wickets at the said venue.

It is to be noted that South Africa and Sri Lanka played the first match at the venue, where the Islanders batted first and bundled out for just 77 runs. This was their lowest score in T20Is. Whereas, India managed to bowl out Ireland for 96 runs in the second match.

Following the concerns raised by the cricketing fraternity, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has assured that the ground staff will "remedy" the situation of the pitches at the venue.

In a media statement ahead of the Pakistan-India clash scheduled for June 9 at the same venue, the ICC admitted that the two pitches used in the stadium did not play "as consistently as we would have all wanted".

The cricket body said the world-class grounds team had been working hard since the conclusion of the last game to address the situation assuring to deliver the best possible surfaces for the remaining matches.

Continuing on tomorrow's match between arch-rivals, Jaffer told Indian media, "You want Axar to play because his batting might come in handy. You also want Kuldeep to play. However, due to the pitch on offer in New York, you would need Axar's batting."

"There might be a possibility that the pitch might improve for the spinners if the groundsmen continue to roll the pitch," the former cricketer added.

With India coming off from a win, where Axar bagged one wicket in his one over, it would be interesting to see what playing XI does the Indian skipper chooses for tomorrow's clash.

T20 World Cup squads

Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan, Azam Khan, Shadab Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Usman Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Abrar Ahmed, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf.

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.