Pakistan Cricket Board chairman and former cricketer, Ramiz Raja believes that the recent head-to-head clashes between India and Pakistan have resulted in the former taking the present Pakistan side more seriously as a team and therefore wants the critics to acknowledge the Babar Azam-led side for having the edge over a “billion-dollar team".
In a recent interview to Dawn, Ramiz opined that whenever India and Pakistan lock horns for a match then it becomes more a mental battle than a physical one. He further said that previously Pakistan were considered underdogs in World Cup matches against India, but over the time even the Indian side has started respecting Pakistan as a serious cricketing team.
“Skill aur talent se zyada mental match hota hain yeh. So agar aap temperamentally strong he and mentally focussed he aur haar manne ko taiyar nahi hain toh chhoti team bhi badi team ko hara sakti hain. And Pakistan humesha se underdogs rahein hain jab bhi India se muqabla huye hain, but off late, unhone hume respect dena shuru kardiya hain kyunki unke khayal me yeh hain ki Pakistan hume kabhi hara hi nehi sakte."
He further asked fans and critics to hail Pakistan team for beating a “billion-dollar side" given the limited resources they have compared to their Indian counterpart.
“So yehi main kehta hu ki Pakistan ko credit dijiye kyunki ek billion-dollar team cricket industry ko hum harate he. Main toh khud World Cups khela hu, humlog toh India ko nehi hara paate the. Iss team ko credit dena chaiye kyunki limited resources, compared to India, se prepare karte he and tagda muqabla karte hain," PCB Chairman said.
India and Pakistan faced each other last time in Asia Cup 2022, Super 4 where latter defeated the former. Though, both the nations don’t get involved in bilateral series any longer, due to strained political relations but they compete in multi-nation events like in ICC tournaments or Asia Cup.
Until October 2021, India were undefeated against Pakistan in World Cup meetings, winning all 12 matches – seven in ODIs and five in T20Is. However, the history changed as Pakistan defeated India by 10 wickets in their World Cup encounter.
Also, in past one year till now, both the teams have met thrice wherein Pakistan have won twice – one in 2021 T20 World Cup opener and other in 2022 Asia Cup.
The Men in Blue will now face Pakistan on October 23 in their 2022 T20 World Cup opener at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
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