T20 World Cup, India vs Pakistan: Abdul Razzaq’s BIG claim – One of the fiercest rivalries in world of sports, India and Pakistan have shared some memorable moments on a field of cricket. However, due to worsening diplomatic ties, the two nations’ engagements have been restricted to just ICC events of late. But former Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq has claimed that Virat Kohli’s India aren’t good enough to compete against Pakistan and that’s the reason they don’t play against each other.
“I don’t think India can compete with Pakistan. The kind of talent Pakistan has is entirely different and I don’t think is a good thing for cricket that India and Pakistan are not having matches. It used to be an exciting prospect and give players the opportunity to show how much pressure they could handle. So that has gone missing. I feel that had it continued, people would have found out that the kind of talent Pakistan has, India does not,” Abdul Razzaq told ARY News.
T20 World Cup, India vs Pakistan: Abdul Razzaq’s BIG claim, ‘India can’t compete with Pakistan, that’s why don’t play with us’
T20 World Cup, India vs Pakistan: The former Pakistan all-rounder who is now known for making over the top comments have justified his claims saying that it is the talent pool that is the differentiating factor. As per him, despite producing the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Jasprit Bumrah amongst many others, India do not have enough talent pool to compete with Pakistan. He added that Pakistan have produced better players than India over the years.
Abdul Razzaq added that in terms of ability to thrive in high-pressure scenarios, India is no match to Pakistan. However, it should be noted that Pakistan have lost 14 times to India in ICC events and have won just three including the 2017 Champions Trophy Final. India also beat Pakistan to lift the T20 World Cup trophy in 2007.
T20 World Cup, India vs Pakistan: How have the two sides fared in ICC events?
- ICC events are considered high-pressure situations and India have a resounding 14-3 lead over Pakistan.
- Pakistan lost the 2007 T20 World Cup Final with a rash shot from Misbah Ul-Haq under high-pressure situation.
- In fact, it is Pakistan who have lost by big margins to India in ICC events.
- In the last two World Cup matches, India won by six wickets and 89 runs.
“India too has a good team, I’m not saying anything otherwise. Even they have good players. But if you look at it potential wise, we had Imran Khan, they had Kapil Dev. If you are to compare, then Imran Khan was a lot better. Then we had Wasim Akram, they did not have a player of that calibre,” Abdul Razzaq said.
T20 World Cup, India vs Pakistan: Abdul Razzaq’s BIG claim, ‘India can’t compete with Pakistan, that’s why don’t play with us’
T20 World Cup, India vs Pakistan: Even though the decision to not play Pakistan in bilateral series is purely diplomatic and is under the government of India’s purview, Razzaq said it was due to the dearth of players that India do not play Pakistan.
India will be up against Pakistan again in the T20 World Cup on October 24 with Virat Kohli, arguably the best batsman of this generation, going up against a quality Pakistan bowling attack and Babar Azam, Pakistan’s best batsman of this generation going up against Jasprit Bumrah. It will be the first time two sides face each other since World Cup 2019.
T20 World Cup, India vs Pakistan: Abdul Razzaq’s BIG claim, ‘India can’t compete with Pakistan, that’s why don’t play with us’