Former Pakistan captain Moin Khan has backed his country to break its World Cup jinx by beating India.
Citing conditions in England during May and June, the three-week training camp in England before the tournament begins and, most importantly, Pakistan’s victory against its biggest rival in the Champions Trophy 2017, the former wicketkeeper believes under Sarfaraz Ahmed Pakistan are favourite to replicate the glory of its 1992 World Cup victory.
Shots have been fired, and if the rivalry is anything to go by, things will get heated up. But does Pakistan have a chance to beat India, especially after losing badly to the men in blue at the Asia Cup and given India’s unbeaten record of 6-0 in the World Cup?
Sadly, that unbeaten run doesn’t look like coming to an end, at least in the group stages. Man-to-man India is a better team. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are a cut above any opening stand in the last four year of the limited-overs format.
Fakhar Zaman and Imam Ul Haq, though young and exciting, isn’t a match to experience India’s paring, and against the bowling of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and even the mysterious Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, the batsmen need skills and experience to get through and counterattack. Sadly it doesn’t look like they do, at least on paper.
Though Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Mallik calm things down in the middle, they’ve previously lost the plot even after getting a good start. Babar Azam, a superstar in the making, has a good record in ODIs but has a heavy burden of carrying the team on his shoulders. India has MS Dhoni, Ambati Rayadu and Kedar Jadhav – and when I say Dhoni, I mean the in-form MS Dhoni after a rather indifferent 2018 with the bat. MS Dhoni, after a dominant show in Australia and New Zealand, will be expected to carry the middle order, and the old horse is more than capable of it doing it successfully after having done so in over 300 ODIs.
But the stark difference in the batting between both team is in the form of the captain. While Sarfaraz has experienced somewhat patchy form with the bat since taking over the captaincy, Virat Kohli has taken his batting to another level top lead the pack of hungry wolves single-handedly in the middle overs.
Whatever be said about the pace of Mohammad Amir, Shaheen Afridi and Hasan Ali, unless the pitch has a lot of seam movement, Pakistan’s bowling cannot get through India’s defence, even in conditions that favour bowlers. India have shown they can rise from 4-3, 18-4 to get to a respectable total. If the situation happens to favour bowlers, then Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumarah and Mohammad Shami will break the back of brittle Pakistani line-up.
India’s pace attack is arguably the best of the lot, and spin twins Kuldeep and Chahal means even if you get through the deadly bowlers, the spinning duo will deceive you with leg spin in the middle overs. It’ll be perhaps a significant addition and X factor after their Champions Trophy loss in 2017.
But whatever is said and done, India vs Pakistan matches have always been a test of nerves more than talent or skills. The excellent bowling Pakistani line-up of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, which used to terrorise the world, sadly came out second-best against weaker a India in previous World Cups. Since the 2000s it has been one-way traffic, with India winning most of the matches
India has strong nerves when it comes to big games, be it against Pakistan or any other team. Pakistan is perhaps still in the era when a win against India means more than anything else, putting significant pressure on its side. That has to change.
For the match on 16 June India is coming out as a winner without an iota of doubt. But as cricket fans we can hope Pakistan at least puts up a good show. The India vs Pakistan contest always churns up numbers in terms of tickets and TV viewers. Let’s hope a cracker of a game awaits us.
Hasnain khan
Guest
"Everyone just be quiet, the champions trophy was won by Pakistan beating india, and now the world cup will be won by pakistan I am a pakistani fan and from pakistan, I have met Mohammed Hafeez 1 week ago and it has set to be they are really confident, Pakistan will win the World cup this year 2019"!!!!!!
Saurebh Gandle
Roar Guru
True. But purely from cricketing point of view, Ind outclass Pak!
Tanmoy Kar
Guest
After the Pulwama attack at J & K, India probably will refuse to play against Pakistan at the World Cup.
Paul
Roar Guru
Dat, I appreciate & respect your analysis, but as Australia found out in that 2017 tournament, it takes very little to go against a side and you're out of contention. India has every right to be confident, but anything can happen
Paul
Roar Guru
very fair comments Saurebh.
Paul
Roar Guru
The last time Pakistan choked in an event of this importance was in the 99 final and in that game they were simply outclassed. Pakistan is a truly dangerous side because they play such up & down cricket. If India catches them when they're down, you're right India wins easily. If they're up, India will get hammered
Saurebh Gandle
Roar Guru
Yes, semi-finals is what will be the most important match for India.It could be a close contest like NZ-SA last time.If India gets through it, they could beat England in finals.Hopefully, they don't face Eng in semis. A lot off the field was happening too. Coach -Players disputes.India especially Virat didn't have the body language like he always does. I don't think CT final kinda loss will happen again in big matches for India .
dat
Roar Rookie
The batting as well have improved with guys like yuvraj ,raina ,rahane all out of the picture and dhoni regaining some of his old form after being patchy for 2 years. Rayadu has been some what decent, while hardik and jadhav have been doing well as finishers. Virat and rohit meanwhile have stepped their game even further in odis . Pakistan on the other hand went and lost 5-0 to nz,3-2 to sa,was knocked out by Bangladesh before the asia cup finals and their 3 best bowlers in amir,shadab and hasan ali have been much less of a threat since 2018 despite not missing out with any major injury concerns. Shaheen looks promising, but is still quite new to the setup. Zaman who looked threatening with the bat has started to fade after that zimb tour. While Sarfraz and malik are also going through the same. On paper Babar and( in a lesser degree) Imam are the only ones to be bothered about from the current pak batting lineup. Outside a shortened t20 affair or a 2nd string Indian unit showing up due to the aftereffects of a grueling ipl schedule, their group stage encounter is very likely going to be won by India. Tbh,if they are at full strength, i am not too sure how India aren't assured of a semifinal spot already,unless rain gets in their way.
dat
Roar Rookie
From 2015 onwards every contest between india and pakistan have been one sided in the 2 shortest formats,and pakistan have won only 1 out of those 7 matches. Once you reach the semifinals any team can beat the other,so if pakistan were to reach that stage they are very capable of beating india,but outside a washout or shortened t20 like match ,the group stage match between those 2 is very likely going to be another one sided affair in favor of india. The Bowling unit is very much the reason for that . First off we have bumrah who despite avg 27 back then wasn't as good a bowler as he is right now. Since the champions trophy loss he avg 19 with the ball,and had achieved the highest odi rating for any bowler since shaun pollock in 2009. (despite not playing 8 odds in a row he is still no:1 ranked odi bowler). India now even have an option of going for a 3rd seamer in shami who has been doing well after getting a constant run in the squad for the first time since his injury in the 15 wc and finally got the fastest Indian to 100 odi wicket record to his name. Meanwhile india went into the 17 ct finals with 2 spinners who were neither big wicket takers or doing a good job in run containing since the previous edition of the said tournament. That was always going to cost them sooner rather than later.But now no:4 and 5 ranked odi bowlers are in the squad and more so than their avg of 20 and 23 it's when they get picked as a duo you see their importance to the squad. Together in the 18 odi matches they played in they have taken 75 odis wickets in 18 matches at a strike rate of 1 dismissal every 26 deliveries at an economy under 5.If you give a opening bowling combo of bhuvi/shami and bumrah who would possibly have taken 1 or 2 wickets at the end of the power play overs then handling these 2 becomes even harder. Thats pretty much the reason india have only lost 1 bilateral series in the last 2 years,while also managing to win in nz,sa and aust.
Brasstax
Guest
India chokers? Are you joking? India are one of the strongest teams mentally in the ODI format. If India do reach the finals (and that is a big IF), as long as they do not face Australia I back them to beat any of SA or England or Pakistan or NZ in the final.
Saurebh Gandle
Roar Guru
Did u forget Bumrah no-ball? Add Kuldeep-Chahal in the mix. MS Dhoni back in form. Pak is never reaching 300 again. Ind should win contest easily. If one off day was choke, then Pak has choked n number of times since the 2000s.
Paul
Roar Guru
Saurebh, I copied a side that played Pakistan a little while ago. You'll probably recognize these names; Rohit Sharma Shikar Dhawan Virat Kohli Youraj Singh MS Dhoni Kedar Jadhav Hardik Pandya Ravi Jadeja Ravi Ashwin Bhuvneshwar Kumar Jasprit Bumrah This was the team that choked with the ball and allowed Pakistan to make 338/4 then choked with the bat and were all out for 158 in the 2017 Champions Trophy final. I'm guessing 8 of this team will play most games in the World Cup. What makes you think they won't do the same thing again? You talk up your batsmen but the fact is they can fail and when they do, India loses and your bowlers are by no means the invincible group you make them out to be. The game you should be concerned about is not on the 16th of June but on the 14th of July. If India makes the final, most will be wondering whether they can take out the Cup, or will they play as they did on the 18th of June 2017.