By India Today Sports Desk: The India-Pakistan cricket rivalry is likely one of the most intense on the earth, with every match carrying a weight of historical past and nationwide satisfaction. The stakes are even larger in the case of the ODI World Cup, the place Pakistan are but to safe a victory towards India. However, former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis believes that the present staff has the potential to vary this narrative.
“The lesser you play against a team, that too against a big team – so whenever you will play them, especially if it is Pakistan and India, the pressure would be immense and tripled,” Younis stated whereas chatting with Cricket Pakistan, reflecting on the high-stakes nature of those encounters.
He acknowledged that in his time the stress was comparatively lesser because of frequent matches between the 2 nations.
However, he additionally admitted that within the World Cup, Pakistan typically choked towards India.
“But then again, in World Cup, we used to choke against India,” he confessed.
Despite this, Younis expressed optimism concerning the present staff’s means to deal with stress. “Nonetheless, as I said, players these days are handling the pressure definitely better,” he added.
Younis recognized a number of key gamers who may very well be game-changers for Pakistan of their quest for a World Cup victory towards India.
“We have match-winners, we have individuals that can win you matches single-handedly, including Babar himself, Shaheen – Fakhar can do wonders, then, of course, we have seen Imam playing great innings,” he stated.
He emphasised that Pakistan has all the mandatory sources to safe a victory. The problem now lies in placing these sources collectively and successfully managing the stress that comes with such high-stakes matches.
“Pakistan team have handled pressure in a better way in the recent past,” he stated, expressing confidence within the staff’s means to rise to the event.
India are scheduled to play Pakistan on 15 November at Ahmedabad. However, India Today learnt from sources that the match is perhaps preponed because of conflict with the festive season within the Indian subcontinent.
