Former batsman Mohammed Kaif has issued a big warning to the Indian team ahead of their highly anticipated clash against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup in 2024. The Indian team has only lost once against arch rivals Pakistan in the T20 World Cup, and that was in 2021. Other than that, the Men in Blue have maintained a commanding dominance over India since 2007, including a win in the inaugural final.
In the final tournament of the 2022 T20 World Cup, Kohli produced the best batting performance of his career against Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, snatching victory from the brink of defeat. Despite India being at a disadvantage, Kohli stood tall with an unbeaten 82-run batsmanship to lead India to victory in a thrilling match.
India extended their dominance over Pakistan in white-ball formats with dominant victories in the Asia Cup 2023 and ODI World Cup last year.
Meanwhile, Kaif suggested that while Pakistan’s batting line-up remains a weakness, a player like Fakhar Zaman can singlehandedly change the course of a match.
“We all know Pakistan’s batting is weak. Fakhar Zaman is a bit quicker. If he gets going, he can probably win the match on his own. Iftikhar Ahmad is quicker but apart from that everyone is playing at a strike rate of 120-125. We are not so much afraid of their batting but we are afraid of their bowling,” Kaif said during a Star Sports debate.
The former Indian batsman further spoke about Pakistan’s fast bowlers and said that Naseem Shah, who was unavailable in last year’s ODI World Cup, will be a real problem for the Indian batsmen in New York.
“They have Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah. Naseem Shah has not come to play the World Cup for India. He was injured but is fit here. It will be a bouncy pitch here. Naseem Shah is a very good bowler. Talking about the Melbourne match which Virat Kohli won, if you look at Naseem Shah’s first delivery you can see that he batted and dropped the catch at the slips,” he added.
The highly anticipated match between India and Pakistan will be played at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York on June 9.
