‘They’ll Win Us the Game,’ Ex-Captain Says of Pakistan’s ‘Match-winners’ in World Cup 2023. The next few months will be filled with fierce on-field rivalries, particularly when India and Pakistan meet on multiple occasions. The arch-rivals will face off in the forthcoming Asia Cup in September, and if they make it to the finals, the spectators will be in for a treat. Later in October, the two teams will meet in a mouth-watering game at the ICC World Cup 2023 in Ahmedabad.
The 50-over world cup matches between India and Pakistan have a history. The Indians are currently unblemished and will try to maintain that record in the upcoming edition. However, it is also true that Pakistan will present a difficult task.
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Former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis feels Pakistan would be a strong contender for the World Cup crown. Younis expressed his thoughts on Pakistan’s star-studded squad, recalling how the green army used to be under pressure during Indo-Pak battles, admitting that Pakistan used to choke against India in ICC events.
“In our time, pressure was not as much of a problem as it appears now. The less you play against a team, especially a major team, the more pressure you’ll feel if you face them, especially if it’s Pakistan and India.
“Pressure is always high, but it may have been lower in our time because we used to play a lot of cricket in my early days.” But then again, we used to choke against India in the World Cup. Nonetheless, as I already stated, players are handling pressure much better these days. “These match-winners, which I mentioned earlier, will win us the game,” Younis said.
Waqar emphasised the current Pakistan side’s capacity to handle pressure further, listing the ‘game-changers’ who may lead the team to victory in the upcoming ICC event.
“The Pakistan team has handled pressure better in recent years.” In my perspective, it doesn’t matter where you play, whether in India or Pakistan, provided you have your process in order and are executing your talents and plans adequately, therefore I don’t think we have a problem. We have match-winners, we have players who can win you matches single-handedly, like Babar himself, Shaheen – Fakhar can do wonders, and we’ve seen Imam play tremendous innings, so Pakistan absolutely has all the resources; now it’s just a matter of bringing them together.
