India has played in the Indian Premier League here but…’: Sarfaraz Ahmed highlights Pakistan’s advantage ahead of Asia Cup
India has played in the Indian Premier League here: The 2022 edition of the Asia Cup T20 tournament is set to take place in the United Arab Emirates from the 27th of August 2022. The six-team team competition will be seeing the likes of the Indian team taking on the Pakistan team in a T20 International match for the first time after a shocking defeat against them in a group stage match of the 2021 T20 World Cup.
It was in the seventh edition of the T20 World Cup, which took place in the UAE in 2021 when for the first time in World Cup matches, the Men in Green got the better of the Indian team. They had never defeated India in 12 previous attempts (50 overs and T20 combined). But in the 13th attempt at Dubai International Stadium, they defeated the Men in Blue, and with style. The Babar Azam-led Pakistan team won by 10 wickets to crush India’s hopes.
Again, after more than 10 months, these two teams will be lining up against each other at the same venue in Dubai on August 28 (Sunday). The Pakistan team would like to make it two wins in a row. But Rohit Sharma and his team will be desperate to take revenge and settle the scores.
The match is set to be played in Dubai. Dubai is a place where both Indian and Pakistani players have played a lot in the recent few years. The 2020 and second half of the 2021 editions of the Indian Premier League took place in the Gulf nation. This gave Indian players enough chances to get used to the conditions in the region. And for Pakistan, it was its home ground for many years before international cricket returned to their country.
Since the end of last year’s T20 World Cup, a lot of things have changed for the Indian team. The team has a new all-format captain, a great group of fast bowlers, and a new approach to playing T20 cricket. The team has won every series under Rohit’s captaincy since November 2021. When India takes the field to play in the Asia Cup, expectations are that the winning run goes on. But according to former Pakistani skipper and wicketkeeper-batsman Sarfaraz Ahmed, his team has an upper hand against the Men in Blue when the two sides face each other in Dubai next week.
The 2017 Champions Trophy-winning captain said that even though India has been playing good cricket over the past few months, Pakistan understands the conditions in the UAE better, which is their benefit.
“The first match of any tournament sets the tone of the campaign. Our first game is against India. Definitely, our morale would be higher because when we met the last time, Pakistan defeated India at the same venue. Pakistan is very familiar with the conditions, having played in the PSL and numerous home series here. Yes, India has played in the IPL here, but they don’t have that much experience of playing in these conditions,” Sarfaraz told Sports Paktv.
“It is important for Pakistan to have a fit Shaheen Shah Afridi. If you look at their current team, they have been playing good cricket. But our team, especially in the shortest format, has been playing good,” he further added.
Pakistan is playing against the Netherlands in a three-match ODI series. The Pakistan team defeated the Netherlands side by 14 runs in the first game. India, on the other hand, is on a three-ODI tour to Zimbabwe.