The High Voltage Clash between India and Pakistan: ICA Sports preview with Aamer Sohail and Vikrant Gupta
The arch rivals India and Pakistan are all set to compete against one another once again at the big stage of the T20 world cup in Melbourne on Sunday. This is the fourth time within a year’s time that the sides would be up against each other, as previously they played at the World T20 2021 and in the recent Asia Cup twice (Group stage and Super 6). All three of these matches were played in the UAE, with Pakistan winning two of them and India winning once.
Before this high voltage clash, Former Pakistan Opener and World cup winner Aamir Sohail and Vikrant Gupta, Senior sports journalist from India discussed the match as a preview on ICA sports. Starting it all off, Vikrant gupta asked Aamer Sohail, if it would be expected to be the same as when the last time the two sides clashed against each other not so long ago in the Asia Cup on which Aamer Sohail said that it would be totally different this time around because the conditions are different in Australia as compared to the UAE and that the match mainly will be between the Pakistan bowlers and the Indian batsmen.
Talking about Pakistan, Aamer Sohail said that heading into this world cup and the game against India, Pakistan will have the same problems as they have had before which is that they are over reliant on their openers Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan and that the middle order of the side is not settled which can cause problems for Pakistan. Talking about the bowling attack, Aamer Sohail said that if the bowling attack of Pakistan does well in these conditions, they will then surely give Pakistan a good chance to win in this encounter against India.
He further stated that a reality which one cannot turn away from is that Pakistan bowlers have struggled to do well in the Australian conditions in the recent past, and this is because they could not adapt to these conditions really well. He also said that the current lot of fast bowlers of Pakistan are young and therefore do not have much exposure of playing in these Australian conditions and therefore the earlier they adapt to the conditions , the better it will be for Pakistan heading into the mega event.
Vikrant Gupta also asked Aamer Sohail the reason behind the failure of Pakistan pacers in the recent past in Australian conditions as compared to the Indian pacers who have been fairly successful in these conditions, upon which he replied that simply the bowlers have failed to adapt to the conditions and have often misread them which therefore causes the failures and that in order to be successful they will have to adapt well to the conditions and adapt rather quickly, bowling according to their strengths and sticking to those lines. He again stressed that the bowlers would have a key role to play and would have to do well if Pakistan has to win this game against India.
When asked about the comeback of Shaheen Shah Afridi from injury and whether he would be fit enough to make an important impact in the clash against India, Aamer said that in cases like these ultimately it is the player’s own call, and they have to be honest about themselves and see if they would be able to give their one hundred percent and deliver for their side. He also said that going into the all important game against India, Shaheen would have played the two warm up games, which would help him to get match practice and get back into rhythm once again in order to do well in the clash against India.
In his final comments, when asked by Vikrant Gupta about the favourite to win this game, Aamer Sohail went with Pakistan and said that no doubt the Indian side is talented, but Pakistan has a better bowling line-up, and therefore he would place them as favourites to win this game. The all important game would be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Sunday and will begin at 7pm local time and 1 pm PST.
