Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez today said he hoped his team get a much-needed lift from their match against arch-rivals India, which opens the main round of the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh.
The fifth edition of the World Twenty20 with 16 teams in competition will be held from March 16 to April 6.
Bangladesh, ranked 10th in the world, have been drawn with Afghanistan, Nepal and Hong Kong in group A of the first round.
The other group comprises Zimbabwe, Ireland, the United Arab Emirates and the Netherlands.
The top team from each group advances to the main tournament. They will join the eight seeded teams in the second, which opens with Indo-Pak match on March 21.
Hafeez wants his team to get the ideal start by beating India.
"India-Pakistan match is always a pressure match, as a player as a captain I am very happy that our first match is against India and from there we will, Insha'Allah get a good take off and will perform better in all the matches during the tournament," Hafeez told reporters.
The Pakistan team flies off on Thursday and will play two warm-up matches, against New Zealand on March 17 and South Africa two days later.
Pakistan are placed in Group Two in the second round alongwith India, Australia, the West Indies and one qualifier from the first round.
Hafeez believed Pakistan had the momentum with a win over India in the Asia Cup.
