Ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy clash between arch-rivals India and Pakistan, former Indian cricketer Syed Kirmani said that Men in Blue have an upper hand over the Men in Green and highlighted the positives each teams have occurring for them heading into the sport. The sport is a high-stakes battle for each teams, as while Pakistan will try to maintain their title defence alive, India will aim to almost confirm its berth within the semis. The sport can be being touted as a possibility for India to avenge the lack of the 2017 Champions Trophy Final when Virat Kohli’s men were deprived of putting their hands on the ICC trophy.
Unlike the 50-over and T20 World Cups, Pakistan holds a 3-2 advantage over India within the Champions Trophy. Probably the most notable encounter stays the 180-run triumph within the 2017 Champions Trophy final, which makes Sunday’s game much more exciting for fans from either side of the border.
Talking to ANI ahead of the match, Syed said that irrespective of what sport, the competition between India and Pakistan grabs eyeballs worldwide.
“You see, that is the highlight of all your complete Commonwealth countries and in the opposite countries, European countries as well, wherever the Indian expats and the Pakistani expats are there, in order that they are glued to the TV to see who’s going to win. Obviously, every Indian would love India to win. Every Pakistani would love to see Pakistani win, but we surely have an upper hand obviously,” he added.
Kirmani said that each players are equally competent and there will likely be a whole lot of pressure on India to win considering the actual fact they’re considered the “best on the planet”.
“But you’ve to take it in the best spirit of the sport, particularly this message is for the cricket lovers throughout to benefit from the game, let the perfect team win. Alright, that isthe way you go to enjoy this great game. Don’t be emotional. And feel sad about my particular team losing. No, no, no, no, no, it is a sport. You win some, you lose some, so enjoy all that,” he added.
Speaking of positives for the team, Kirmani said that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, two of probably the most senior players, have made their return to form.
“We’ve got got an exquisite lineup and the children with the experienced players, right? So there there shouldn’t be any panic. There shouldn’t be any type of pressure and tension, and I’m sure each team would love to tackle each other in a really um sporting manner. And play the sport in the best spirit. That’s the way it must be. And even Pakistan have been doing pretty much. They have some very promising kids coming up. You see, now Babar Azam has moved away as a captain, but he’s a terrific source of inspiration and motivation with the type of experience he has, right? You will have some good bowlers of their side, also good kids who’ve come up into the team. You see, essential shouldn’t be to get complacent. , being a stronger team, any stronger team shouldn’t get into complacency. here there can’t be a complacency between India and Pakistan obviously. It will be an interesting match,” he concluded.
India squad for CT2025: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Pakistan squad for CT2025: Mohammad Rizwan (c), Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Tayyab Tahir, Faheem Ashraf, Khushdil Shah, Salman Ali Agha, Usman Khan, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi.
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Topics mentioned in this text
