"It won't be a walkover for Pakistan against India this time around" : Shoaib Akhtar

[MenInG]

Former pacer Shoaib Akhtar believes that Pakistan will be put to a test against India at the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia. The two neighboring nations have been placed in Group 2 of the tournament and will play against each other on October 23 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

The inaugural T20 World Cup champions recorded their first loss against Pakistan in World Cups last year. The Babar Azam-led side racked up an impressive 10-wicket victory in Dubai at the 2021 T20 World Cup. The highly-anticipated contest between the two arch-rivals is expected to draw a record crowd at the iconic venue in Australia.

Opining that the Men In Blue must be careful while compiling their playing XI against Pakistan, Shoaib Akhtar said in an interaction with Harbhajan Singh on Sportskeeda:

"India cannot go about and select a random team against Pakistan without defining their roles. I think, the management should select the team carefully and I fully believe it will be a solid team. It won't be a walkover for Pakistan this time around."

India's squad selection for the previous edition of the tournament sparked wide debate, especially surrounding the omission of leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal.

Claiming that the Men In Blue cannot afford to make mistakes when it comes to naming their squad, Akhtar added:

"If India pick the right squad for the tournament, then they have a very good chance of beating Pakistan. They are absolutely even teams at the moment, so it is very difficult to predict a result."

After opening the 2021 T20 World Cup with a defeat to Pakistan, the Virat Kohli-led side failed to qualify for the semi-finals. They finished third in their group following a tame defeat to New Zealand as well.

The high-octane contests between India and Pakistan have always drawn crowds irrespective of the venue. The MCG is bound to be a spectacle when it hosts one of cricket's most intense matches.

Opining that Pakistan should look to bat first at the MCG while acknowledging the crowd factor in, Akhtar said:

"The wicket at the MCG plays quite well. Bowling second would be ideal for Pakistan to win the match against India. There will be a crowd of 100,000, out of which 70,000 will be supporting India so, the pressure will be on Pakistan."

Pakistan narrowly missed out on a place in the 2021 T20 World Cup due to an exceptional cameo by Matthew Wade in the semi-finals. The Babar Azam-led side will be hoping to win their second title after winning their first T20 World Cup in 2009.

https://www.sportskeeda.com/cricket...ern-fightback-india-arch-rivals-t20-world-cup

 

[docteurmanish]

Former pacer Shoaib Akhtar believes that Pakistan will be put to a test against India at the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia. The two neighboring nations have been placed in Group 2 of the tournament and will play against each other on October 23 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

The inaugural T20 World Cup champions recorded their first loss against Pakistan in World Cups last year. The Babar Azam-led side racked up an impressive 10-wicket victory in Dubai at the 2021 T20 World Cup. The highly-anticipated contest between the two arch-rivals is expected to draw a record crowd at the iconic venue in Australia.

Opining that the Men In Blue must be careful while compiling their playing XI against Pakistan, Shoaib Akhtar said in an interaction with Harbhajan Singh on Sportskeeda:

"India cannot go about and select a random team against Pakistan without defining their roles. I think, the management should select the team carefully and I fully believe it will be a solid team. It won't be a walkover for Pakistan this time around."

India's squad selection for the previous edition of the tournament sparked wide debate, especially surrounding the omission of leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal.

Claiming that the Men In Blue cannot afford to make mistakes when it comes to naming their squad, Akhtar added:

"If India pick the right squad for the tournament, then they have a very good chance of beating Pakistan. They are absolutely even teams at the moment, so it is very difficult to predict a result."

After opening the 2021 T20 World Cup with a defeat to Pakistan, the Virat Kohli-led side failed to qualify for the semi-finals. They finished third in their group following a tame defeat to New Zealand as well.

The high-octane contests between India and Pakistan have always drawn crowds irrespective of the venue. The MCG is bound to be a spectacle when it hosts one of cricket's most intense matches.

Opining that Pakistan should look to bat first at the MCG while acknowledging the crowd factor in, Akhtar said:

"The wicket at the MCG plays quite well. Bowling second would be ideal for Pakistan to win the match against India. There will be a crowd of 100,000, out of which 70,000 will be supporting India so, the pressure will be on Pakistan."

Pakistan narrowly missed out on a place in the 2021 T20 World Cup due to an exceptional cameo by Matthew Wade in the semi-finals. The Babar Azam-led side will be hoping to win their second title after winning their first T20 World Cup in 2009.

https://www.sportskeeda.com/cricket...ern-fightback-india-arch-rivals-t20-world-cup

india will loose surely this time again. So long as India has Kohli in t20 ,its not gonna win . t20 is played on strike rate basis but india still lives in old world average

india only chance is batting second after restricting pak to 150 .

 

[adzzy786]

india will loose surely this time again. So long as India has Kohli in t20 ,its not gonna win . t20 is played on strike rate basis but india still lives in old world average

india only chance is batting second after restricting pak to 150 .

Pakistani bowlers speciality is to get opposition batsmen back i to form. India will beat us this time

 

[Nikhil_cric]

MCG is a more balanced venue than Dubai and if you bat first and score 175 +, its defendable.

Toss wont be as important in Australia.

 

[shamaan]

Pakistani bowlers speciality is to get opposition batsmen back i to form. India will beat us this time

Not in t20s I disagree.

 

[shamaan]

Pakistan will win they have a better pace attack for Australia conditions in t20s.

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

WC is in Australia so India will be favorites to win against Pakistan this time also.

 

[Rana]

Pakistan will win they have a better pace attack for Australia conditions in t20s.

Not if India pick Umran. He will be a dangerous bowler if it’s his day

 

[docteurmanish]

Pakistani bowlers speciality is to get opposition batsmen back i to form. India will beat us this time

Indian batters selected are not the best for the format . India has good young batters like Shaw etc but our current system lays emphasis on seniority without performance .
T20 is won based on strike rate of batters and bowlers . A team having best of both will win . India is blessed with v good bowlers now but india does not know how to chuck out high avg but poor strike rate players . Rahane , Kohli are two prime examples .

Kohli is an ideal odi batter . But t20 requires young players willing to strike from word go

Samson , Shaw/ rahul , tewatia/patidar , pandya , pant , karthick , jadeja , bumrah umran Shami and chahal are an ideal combo . The two Ayer’s , thakur and Arshdeep / mohsin khan are great bench strength

Note the absence of Rohit , Kohli etc . The accumulators of india coming back in form will aid opposition .

 

[Energy]

I like the clever use of term, 'walkover'.

 

[Rajdeep]

LOL at walkover.

Pakistani fans and the ex-players have got arrogant after the last T20 win. I see comments of 152-0 gets mentioned every where in almost every platform. This reminds of the post Champions trophy era when there used to regular big statements and then all came crashing down in Asia cup 2018. For Pakistan's sake, I hope that is not the case this time

But someone need to remind Shoaib the world cup head to head record. He himself was part of 2 of them. Once he remember those, he may change his word from 'walkover' to 'Aberration'.

'It wont be an aberration for Pakistan like last time' - something like this.

 

[Varun]

Now that Pakistan has beaten us once, I fully expect them to string together another few wins easily.

 

[shamaan]

Not if India pick Umran. He will be a dangerous bowler if it’s his day

*if its day.

 

[sweep_shot]

Now that Pakistan has beaten us once, I fully expect them to string together another few wins easily.

Yeah. I think the mental block should be gone now.

Also, I think Pakistan has a better T20 team than India right now.

 

[Moeey]

Should be a cracker. Shoaib is right. It depends on what india chooses. 50 50

 

[MenInG]

Former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh has opted not to make any prediction before the high-intense match between India and Pakistan at the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year.

The arch-rivals will meet on October 23 at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) one year after the Men in Green outclassed their neighbours by ten wickets at Dubai International Stadium.

The 41-year-old, before the game in Dubai, had asked the Pakistan cricket team to give a walkover to India as they had never managed to beat them in the World Cup (50 and 20-overs both).

"I told Shoaib Akhtar that there's no sense in Pakistan participating; you should give us a walkover. You'll play, you'll lose again, and you'll be upset." On Star Sports, Harbhajan Singh had remarked, "Our squad is extremely solid, very powerful, and they will easily beat you guys.”

After the match, the former off-spinner was trolled badly by the Pakistani fans, including cricketers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Amir

Won't give any statement this year: Harbhajan Singh
The fear of losing to Pakistan has made Harbhajan into thinking as he has decided to refrain from making any remarks before the match and said: "We have another T20 World Cup and this year, I won't be giving any statement and won't talk over who will win [between Pakistan and India]," he told to Shoaib Akhtar in a conversation on an Indian sports website.

"Mauka Mauka or whatever, we will see what is going to happen as last time around things went bad due to this,"

Shoaib advised Harbhajan not to make any prediction on which the latter agreed.

CricketPakistan

 

[Slim]

India are favorites but with poor leadership at the helm, fat and unfit cricketers - i see Pakistan having a good chance.

 

[PakLFC]

If it is a walkover it'll be because one Shoaib Akhtar did not give away 200 runs in his ten overs!

 

[Third Man]

LOL at walkover.

Pakistani fans and the ex-players have got arrogant after the last T20 win. I see comments of 152-0 gets mentioned every where in almost every platform. This reminds of the post Champions trophy era when there used to regular big statements and then all came crashing down in Asia cup 2018. For Pakistan's sake, I hope that is not the case this time

But someone need to remind Shoaib the world cup head to head record. He himself was part of 2 of them. Once he remember those, he may change his word from 'walkover' to 'Aberration'.

'It wont be an aberration for Pakistan like last time' - something like this.

I see that you are a little stung by the word "walkover", but to be honest it did turn out to be a walkover for Pakistan in the last game. Shoaib is suggesting it won't be a walkover this time, and I agree because that was Pakistan at its best and India somewhere near its worst. Doesn't happen every time.

 

[CrIc_Mystique]

Isn't there the Asia cup T20 tournament in SL or BD before the WC?

 

[Champ_Pal]

There are too many passengers in the Indian team. Kohli and Rohit will eat 10 overs out of 20 and can only score at 100 S/R.
If Pakistan are smart, they will not get Kohli out and make him play full 20 overs

 

[Rajdeep]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Harbhajan Sindh refraining from predicting regarding Indo-Pak clash in T20 WorldCup 2022 is a lack of confidence on Indian team. Such is the psychological damage Pakistan has done on the cricket pundits of India. India will be under pressure against Pakistan in T20 WorldCup 2022!</p>— Arfa Feroz Zake (@ArfaSays_) <a href="https://twitter.com/ArfaSays_/status/1538793058128609281?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 20, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Pakhs]

It was not a walkover last time.. India actually managed to get to 152 which couple of early wickets would have made it very interesting. Whoever bats second will have the advantage.

 

[Mamoon]

Pakistan won because of the toss. Had they bowled first, India would have cantered to a 10 or a 9 wicket win like they did in the 2018 Asia Cup.

Pakistan is one of the worst teams around on Australian pitches, totally clueless. Should be a comfortable win for India.

 

[MenInG]

After the BCCI selectors announced a 15-member squad for the 2022 T20 World Cup, all eyes are on the potential playing XI when the Indian cricket team starts its campaign against Pakistan on October 23. With the Indian squad bearing a tried and tested look, all the named players have enough experience on their side. So, picking a perfect XI might be a difficult job for the team management. Former Indian cricket team player Irfan Pathan has given his take on the ideal playing XI and has omitted wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant from it.

"See, in my opinion, if you're playing the first match, you need to have some experienced bowlers including one spinner. So, from the top, my playing 11 would be - Rohit, KL Rahul, number three - Virat (Kohli), number four - Suryakumar Yadav, number five - Deepak Hooda, number six - Hardik Pandya, number seven - Dinesh Karthik, number eight will be a right arm leg spinner so it would be (Yuzvendra) Chahal, 9 to 11, here there will be Jasprit Bumrah, Harshal Patel and along with that you can go for Bhuvaneshwar Kumar," Irfan Pathan said on Star Sports.

"So, there will be a combination here, three fast bowlers out of which two are quality fast bowlers, who will be able to bowl at the death as well. And I will make sure that I have the combination and the liberty to choose from the three fast bowlers, even Arshdeep (Singh) to handle the death bowling So, in my opinion, in the playing 11, the spinner is clear, it's just whether I can make space for Arshdeep in the team."

India squad for ICC T20 World Cup:Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh.

Standby players -Mohd. Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Chahar.

https://sports.ndtv.com/t20-world-c...xi-for-t20-world-cup-omits-young-star-3344272

 

[asfandyar]

I think India just played a chess move against us in Asia cup to instill overconfidence in our ranks and to discourage changes in squad (especially middle order). Their match against Afghanistan (despite latter's best efforts to lose), still showed true batting and bowling class. Nicely played, India.

 

[shamaan]

I think axar should play ahead of Chahal it will give India more balance

 

[hitthestump]

I think India just played a chess move against us in Asia cup to instill overconfidence in our ranks and to discourage changes in squad (especially middle order). Their match against Afghanistan (despite latter's best efforts to lose), still showed true batting and bowling class. Nicely played, India.

So you're saying with no evidence whatsoever, that India intentionally threw the Asia Cup match against Pakistan to try and lull them into a false sense of security before the World Cup.

Why are our fans like this?

 

[Nasty Naz]

I think India just played a chess move against us in Asia cup to instill overconfidence in our ranks and to discourage changes in squad (especially middle order). Their match against Afghanistan (despite latter's best efforts to lose), still showed true batting and bowling class. Nicely played, India.

lol.

Truly amazing people think like this.

 

[asfandyar]

So you're saying with no evidence whatsoever, that India intentionally threw the Asia Cup match against Pakistan to try and lull them into a false sense of security before the World Cup.

Why are our fans like this?

Oxford dictionary has the following definition for think:
"to have a particular idea or opinion about something/somebody"

 

[asfandyar]

lol.

Truly amazing people think like this.

Not everyone thinks nasty like Naz.

 

[pillionrider]

lol walkover.

It was just one match Shobby. You'd think Pakistan has been pummeling India in World Cups since 1992.

Oh wait

 

[MenInG]

Former England skipper Nasser Hussain, in a podcast on Sky Sports, said that India need to come out of their shell if they are to do well in ICC events.

"India's issues have been ICC events really. They have been going around beating everyone, with a variety of players, they have rotated and rested. They have hugely experienced cricketers from the IPL and high-class T20 cricketers. But they played some timid cricket in world events, almost gone into their shell. There is a different mindset from a bilateral to a World Cup. They definitely played some fearful cricket in the last World Cup, especially in the powerplays. They have got to keep that hitting potential from Rohit, Rahul. Suryakumar Yadav has been in unbelievable form," said the former English skipper on Sky Sports.

"They are missing two great cricketers in Bumrah and Jadeja. Got to keep the same mindset that they have shown in the bilaterals in the last year or so."

NDTV

 

[Suleiman]

India are going to be the new South Africa of 90s-2010s if they keep up the bilateral bashing and continue to flop in tournaments.

 

[jnaveen1980]

India are going to be the new South Africa of 90s-2010s if they keep up the bilateral bashing and continue to flop in tournaments.

Indian selection is like a government office. Whoever has more experience will get priority. Once you enter into a system. You can get injured whenever you want. You can come back whenever you want with no practice. Rahul Dravid is a textbook coach. He will follow the routines. Kohli despite no trophy did one thing right being a fast bowler lover. He encouraged using of 4 fast bowlers. Let them have a go. He even gave them preference to sit in the flight. Treated them very well. Now we are back to Trundler culture.

 

[Snowflake]

It'll be a walkover, but for the Indians.

This Pakistan team is VERY weak. I believe this would be one of those WCs which Pak fans would want to forget very quickly.

 

[jnaveen1980]

It'll be a walkover, but for the Indians.

This Pakistan team is VERY weak. I believe this would be one of those WCs which Pak fans would want to forget very quickly.

You are under-estimating Harshal patel lol Jadeja hit him for 37 runs in one over.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Both teams are very flawed in different ways. One in bowling department, One in batting department. Both teams bottom of the barrel in fielding. Below BD and Srilanka.

 

[asfandyar]

Pakistan always enter ICC tournaments as underdogs, but for the very first time, even India is looking weak. India will win against Pakistan comfortably, but will make a mockery out of themselves when the big boys arrive.