The Asia Cup 2022 group match between India and Pakistan will take place at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on August 28. Coincidentally, the two nations will be renewing their rivalry at the exact same location where the Men in Green humiliated India by 10 wickets in the Twenty20 World Cup in October of last year.
Rashid Latif, a former Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter, recently gave his opinion that the 10-wicket loss to Pakistan in the T20 World Cup 2021 has done a lot of damage to the Men in Blue and that the team led by Rohit Sharma will be looking to make amends for it in the upcoming marquee match. While this was going on, Latif elaborated on the reasons why Pakistan holds a significant advantage in the competition.
What did Rashid Latif say?
“I don’t believe that they (India) are going to be thinking about the World Cup. They are taking it one series at a time. Nevertheless, it is important to note that the teams are switching up with each new series. Their attention will be focused on the Asia Cup,” Latif stated on his own YouTube channel titled ‘Caught Behind,’Â
He said that the defeat at the hands of Pakistan did a significant amount of harm to the Indian squad, and as a result, they are working hard to recover from it.
“You may play as many series as you want, but the match between India and Pakistan will continue to be extremely significant. In the Asia Cup, I have no doubt that the Indian squad, the board, and the management would give the match against Pakistan a substantial amount of attention. They would want to win the Asia Cup, and if India has access to all of its players, they may be the favourites to do so,” he went on to say.
“They are able to thrive in the environment of the UAE. India is committed to doing its best in the next match against Pakistan. They have been dominant in matches between both teams over the previous 20 years, but Pakistan triumphed by 10 wickets in the most recent contest between the two teams. Therefore, we will work on the preparation for it,” the former captain of Pakistan said further.
With coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma at the forefront of things, the Indian squad has become a force to be reckoned with in the shortest format. This has been the case ever since their elimination from the group stage of the Twenty20 World Cup in Dubai. India had not suffered a loss in a Twenty20 International series since November of the previous year. In addition, they delivered outstanding performances in England (winning 2-1), and they are now on the brink of winning the five-match series in the West Indies.
There is a possibility that India and Pakistan will play each other many times at the 2022 Asia Cup. After playing each other in their respective groups on August 28, the two teams may go on to face each other again in the Super 4s on September 4 and in the final on September 11 if they both make it that far.
