'India will lose to Pakistan': Shoaib Akhtar's prediction for the ICC T20 World Cup final!

[MenInG]

The T20 World Cup returns in October from the United Arab Emirates. India were supposed to host the tournament in 2021 but the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted plans and the BCCI decided to shift the tournament to UAE. The perennial tournament begins on October 17. There is excitement among the cricket fans for the tournament as they will get to see India face Pakistan on a cricketing field. The arch-rivals have been placed in the same group and will face each other in T20 cricket for the first time in 5 years.

India vs Pakistan games in cricket are one of the most followed matches in sport and it is sure to generate a lot of fanfare during the tournament. However, former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar made a bold prediction for the tournament as he stated that both nations will reach the final of the T20 World Cup. Akhtar also believes Pakistan will beat India in the final.

"I have a feeling Pakistan and India will play in the T20 World Cup final and India will lose to Pakistan. Conditions in UAE will favour both India and Pakistan," Shoaib Akhtar told Sports Tak.

The T20 World Cup 2021 is scheduled to take place from October 17 to November 14 this year. India and Pakistan will be joined by New Zealand,

Afghanistan and two other qualifiers from Round 1 in Group 2 of the Super 12 stage. Group 1 will feature two-time and reigning champions West Indies along with Australia, England and South Africa and two other qualifiers.

India and Pakistan have not played bilateral cricket in over a decade but have continued to face other in global tournaments. Since the World Cup in 2011, India and Pakistan have played each other in all ICC events, with India losing just one game. The only ICC competition they did not face each other in was the recently-concluded World Test Championships.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/cricket

 

[MenInG]

The Bolnay Mai Kiya Harj Hai style of statements continues from Master Akhtar.

What is more striking in this statement is the fact that he thinks Pakistan will get into the final!

 

[street cricketer]

Shebby has more jazba and junoon than all the chicken hearted fans in here combined!

 

[Saj]

No basis really to suggest Pakistan can win it at the moment.

Form is patchy, selections strange, team combination not settled at all.

 

[street cricketer]

To be completely honest (not reverse jinxing in any way), if India had to face Pakistan in the final, and India led by Kohli as captain, if I were a punter I would hedge all my bets on Pakistan winning the cup.

 

[rockyboy2018]

Seems like he is getting revelations from divine power. Well in such cases ground realities do not matter. Who knows all of a sudden Fakher Zaman starts acting like Vivian Richards.

 

[Ab Fan]

I agree with Shoaib. Pakistan are favourites for the WT20 match Vs India. They always had a mental edge over teams like England, South Africa and New Zealand but this time I think they can go a notch ahead and beat the Indian team too.

 

[Rajdeep]

I have listened to the entire interview. There is too much I, ME and OUR TIME in it. Some gems that I can recall:

Had Kohli played in their era of 90s, he would have managed to score only half of his centuries but would have earned more respect as its easy to bat on this era.

Current Pak team is meek....they would have sledged Kohli so much had he played in 90s. During 1999 Kolkata test, they sledged Indian players so much that match refree had to call them out.

Present Indian team learned from Pakistan's agression of the past and Ganguly instilled that fighting attitude in them.

He then went onto say likes of Sachin, Anwar, Viv and Martin Crowe would score 50k runs each if they were playing on this era.

There are no stars in current Pakistan team and hence likes of Afridi & him are still getting every advertisement deals.

 

[YousafTheBeast]

Hmm… 2 accumulators at the top who struggle against spin, no specialist spinner in the team because Misbah prefers bits and pieces players, non existent middle order, lack of power hitters in lower order, Faheem Ashraf, a dummy captain leading the team, not 1 bowler who can bowl economically and only 1 new ball bowler. And yet shaiby thinks we can beat India who are a settled team.

 

[ElRaja]

the only reason "analysts" say pak will win is because the odds of them winning are so small, guaranteed content when u bash them for underachieving. if u are honest and say this team pbly wont win, and then they dont win, who do u have a go at for views?

shoaib was a great bowler but he baits views shamelessly as a youtuber.

 

[marlonbrowndo]

Any idiot can say this and then if Pak win by some miracle, they can rub it in peoples faces. Probability and flukes are very real things. We will most likely lose but our chances of winning are not 0%. Predicting for a Pak win is a win win situation.

 

[Saurav]

Wasn't he bashing the same Pak team few days back.Statements like 'who will come to watch'?

Now he thinks they'll get into the final

I'll be suprised if India get there too

 

[OMB]

I will be surprised if he doesn't do a U-turn after watching the first two matches of Pakistan

 

[Maher96]

This was from his talk show with Vikrant Gupta from India. He also said things like we aren’t kids to not understand the cut off date to place both Pakistan and India in same group due to covid etc.

I think it’s was a statement given for tv ratings as that clip will be played gazzillion times on Indian TV channels.

Fair bit of trolling by Akhtar.

Pakistan will be in Final but vs England.

 

[MenInG]

Think Akhtar has set himself for a major fall.

Unless Pakistan can produce some extra-ordinary cricket vs Windies soon, I feel chances of getting to finals are like nil!

 

[Afzal_K]

My prediction is KIWIS to win it

 

[Ashmal]

Who even takes him seriously....

 

[Kroll]

Wasn't he bashing the same Pak team few days back.Statements like 'who will come to watch'?

Now he thinks they'll get into the final

I'll be suprised if India get there too

One of those when Shoaib speaks, you don’t listen moments.

 

[bantu]

India is not reaching the final ... but I think India is going to lose their league match against Pakistan..

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Totally contradictory to his views about Pakistani team and Indian team.

He knows it will grab some attention from some (juvenile) supporters of both sides. That's how he grabs followers these days.

 

[Cricketrenew]

No basis really to suggest Pakistan can win it at the moment.

Form is patchy, selections strange, team combination not settled at all.

Seam normal flow for Pakistan before a big tournament. It means nothing .... Just wish Shoaib had won in 1999.

 

[PakLFC]

Depends a lot on conditions, toss and playing eleven. Futile to make predictions so early.

 

[Justcrazy]

In 20 20 any team can win , even a team like Afghanistan can , if they sort there batting a bit.

 

[AamchiMumbaikar]

Both will not reach finals.

 

[Giannis]

Pakistan are chokers against India

 

[Snowflake]

Can anyone ask him about his 100% credible report, that he gave just before PSL, where he claimed that PCB had decided to replace Misbah with Andy Flower and the announcement will be made right after the PSL concludes.

Why do people take this guy seriously?

 

[Sunny_majoka]

It'll be miracle to beat india in a world event . For Pakistan

 

[Nikhil_cric]

Akhtar knows the truth. Pakistan is a team that is ranked 4th and with the right tactics, they are certainly favourites in UAE conditions. How can a team with Rauf, Hasnain, Shaheen , Shadab, Imad as bowlers not be considered a dangerous team especially in T20's? The only thing stopping Pakistan from being a threat is the stupidity of Misbah and Waqar imo.

 

[ahmedzee]

This Pak team will struggle to win 2 games, let alone beat India. Forget about finals, they would be losing to Afghanistan and bd this time around. Sorry, till we have weak leadership and coaching, I don’t see us do anything significant.

 

[speed_thrills]

This Pak team will struggle to win 2 games, let alone beat India. Forget about finals, they would be losing to Afghanistan and bd this time around. Sorry, till we have weak leadership and coaching, I don’t see us do anything significant.

I

I can bet good dollars that Pakistan won't lose to either.

 

[Inswinging Yorker]

Pakistan are light years behind India in Quality and consistency. Pakistan will not get past the first round.
Akthar talks just like his bowling speed , wayward and being clouted to the boundary.

 

[silentkiller187]

This guy has more contradictions then the SUN newspaper in the UK. i wouldnt take any notice, hes just setting up te stage for his youtube outbursts when we crash out

 

[CrIc_Mystique]

Glad that he thinks India will make the finals , he has more confidence than a lot of our guys...
Considering we have always found a way to bomb out in the knockouts thats a brave statement
and anything can happen in 20-20's, Afg and Wi are strong teams as well and can knock any one off on their day....

 

[Varun]

Backing Pakistan on this one.

This is the UAE - if they're going to win anywhere, it's here.

 

[rockyboy2018]

There will be some heroes in the Pakistan team and overnight will be worship Gods in Pakistan. One of them will be Fakhar Zaman

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Pakistan are chokers against India

Yeah but over the years we have also developed some chokers in our team. Kohli, Bumrah are at the top of that list. Whoever is going to choke less will win.

 

[Bhaijaan]

I believe Pakistan play their best Cricket in India.

Followed by at their home ground and then England.

Pakistan might have got adapted to UAE but I never thought those conditions brought them a lot of advantage rather they limited their game.

In 2010-215 phase, most White teams were clueless in UAE. In last 4-5 years, Pakistan have been challenged a lot more and they are now losing there a lot.

As for India, they are a SF contender but nore more than that. They lack the mamba mentality of a world champion team.

 

[Ashmal]

Backing Pakistan on this one.

This is the UAE - if they're going to win anywhere, it's here.

Lol...you say it before every WC encounter, time to stop all this reverse-jinx stuff.

Ind are favs to beat Pak and go on to win this WC

 

[ayemgilani86]

Shebby has more jazba and junoon than all the chicken hearted fans in here combined!

true, he goes on a high trip sometimes but better to listen to than any other 'pundit'

 

[TeamPak95]

Shoaib Akhtar is the kind of guy to knight himself if this prediction of his comes to fruition

 

[Shafi]

Yeah right!!! Under Misbah as coach and Babar as a dummy captain. Not possible even in dream.

 

[Shafi]

Is Shoaib on drugs? This is one of the weakest cricket team in a history under most unfit coaches. Don’t think we can even pass group stage.

 

[Last Monetarist]

Akhtar realizes that his off-the-cuff remarks provoke comment and attention, it's just a way of keeping engaged with his core audience. Contrary to appearances, he's not a dumb man.

 

[BaankeJi]

in T20s any team can win. T20s are unpredictable. For that reason itself, Shoaib's comments cannot be brushed aside.
But then predictions should not be trusted at all.

 

[ahmedzee]

I

I can bet good dollars that Pakistan won't lose to either.

How much? Lets do this. I have been 100% accurate in predicting team performance in the last 12 years. Lets do this for fun

 

[Itachi]

Pakistan are light years behind India in Quality and consistency. Pakistan will not get past the first round.
Akthar talks just like his bowling speed , wayward and being clouted to the boundary.

In t20, I won't say there's much of a difference.