new york [USA]Former India stars are predicting that Rohit Sharma’s team will beat arch rivals Pakistan in their Group A match of the ongoing T20 World Cup.
A new chapter in the storied rivalry between India and Pakistan will unfold on Sunday at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York.
Former Indian cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu, known for his frustrating strokeplay, feels the most important aspect of competing in heavyweight matches is the pressure of expectation.
“If you are beating Pakistan you are far from being a hero even if you have done nothing in the last seven matches. This is the mother of all battles and it is the pressure of expectations that is the most important here,” Sidhu told ANI.
Amid the pressure of expectation, Siddhu predicted that India would have the advantage against the men in green on the back of a dominant performance.
“India will have the advantage as Pakistan have not performed well in their previous matches. They lost to England and then to the United States in their warm-up matches. India, on the other hand, are on a roll and all their players are in good form. Pakistan’s batting line-up is not performing well and they are not aware of the conditions here in New York,” he added.
India played two matches at the newly built stadium in New York – the first was a warm-up against Bangladesh and the second was their tournament opener against Ireland.
India have been dominant in both the matches and former India spinner Harbhajan Singh feels this will be a huge advantage for Rohit-led India.
“India will have an advantage as they have already played on this ground and Pakistan are coming into this match after playing on a flat pitch. It will be a big challenge for Pakistan to settle in these conditions after their loss to the US. So India have an advantage and they are playing well too,” Harbhajan told ANI.
Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar, who was always present during his playing days, reminisced about the earlier encounters and wished both the teams well for the latest encounter.
Speaking to ANI in New York, Sachin said, “India vs Pakistan matches are always big and exciting. The first time we played them in the World Cup was against Australia. All our previous matches against them in World Cups have been exciting, close and entertaining for the crowds. I have played T20 World Cups from 2007 to 2022 and all those matches have been close and exciting. I wish both the teams the best of luck but my biggest wishes will be for India.”
On the eve of the clash, BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla also expressed confidence that India will beat Pakistan.
“A very important match will be played tomorrow in New York between India and Pakistan. I am hopeful that the Indian team will win as our performance has been very good in all the league matches so far. I am really hopeful that we will emerge victorious in tomorrow’s match,” Shukla told ANI.
India T20 WC squad: Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suriya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Akshar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
Pakistan T20 World Cup Squad: Babar Azam, Abrar Ahmed, Aazam Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Mohammed Abbas Afridi, Mohammed Amir, Mohammed Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan.
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