00:00It is India vs Pakistan time as you probably figured it out with the handshake and the
00:14India jersey. Handshake or the lack of it. This is India today and it's Kinship Kishari
00:19with Saurav Kumar and we are here to preview the India vs Pakistan game for Super 4 in Asia Cup.
00:25It is 20th September today. The match is tomorrow at Dubai International Stadium at 8pm and it's expected to not be a belter of an encounter from whatever we have seen over the past history of 2-3 years that whenever India has played Pakistan they have absolutely like dropped them horribly very badly in every single competition.
00:51Could it be different because of again the handshake controversy? Could Pakistan take this to the heart and say that no, you know what, we are better than this. We can bite back. What do you think Saurav?
01:05I mean if you look at the first couple of matches in this Asia Cup, Pakistan are not the team that can actually trouble this Indian side but whatever happened with India in their last group game against Oman, Pakistan should take some heart from that, should take some inspiration from Oman as to how to bowl, how to bat and how to field against Indian side.
01:23But more importantly after the handshake controversy, a lot of Pakistani YouTubers, executors have been calling that we need this match on 21th, we want the revenge on 21th.
01:33I mean if you have to tell your team that they want to take a revenge and then you have to hire a motivator for your team to get motivated a day before the game, I don't think your team is on the right path.
01:45Yeah, a little background on that. So basically, the Pakistan cricket team has been in a turmoil since the India game. After losing the match very badly against India, there was a whole scene about the handshake snub if Pakistan wanted to pull out of the tournament, if they wanted India to apologize, Andy Pycroft to apologize.
02:05They at one point at a time threatened to leave the tournament to withdraw from the tournament but eventually came back to play their final group stage game.
02:15Now, we are at a spot where Pakistan has not addressed the media going into the match. I'm assuming that's in protest of whatever happened in that game.
02:27Like they have justified it from their end that India was in the wrong and by not speaking to the media, somehow they can lodge a sort of, like they can tell the people that they are angry.
02:39They are just doing it to fulfill formality. At one point of time, I think we were also discussing sort of that is withdrawal from the tournament, is boycotting the tournament the only honorable exit for Pakistan?
02:53Now that Pakistan are here, now that there is a match against India and you say that they are in no shape or form can compete against India here. What should Pakistan look out for in this game?
03:07I mean, if you look at the Pakistan national men's cricket team over the past couple of years, not just a couple of years, a decade, you know this Pakistan side, they can be absolutely horrible across the tournament but when they play against India, somehow they turn up, somehow things start to click for them and they compete and they win, they go on to win the game.
03:27So Pakistan would be hoping that 21st of September is that day for Pakistan cricket, where they can somehow turn up, somehow everything clicks for them, they're fielding, they're bowling, they're batting and they can somehow upseize this Indian team.
03:38But on a very, very practical, pragmatic approach, if you look at that, this Indian team is very, very hard to beat, especially when this Indian team rested Bumrah, they rested Varun, I think they both will be back and this Indian team, I'm telling you, they are very, very good and they are raring again to go and beat Pakistan again.
03:55I mean, we all know what happened in the group stage game, Pakistan was no match in the batting, in the ball game, so I expect this Indian team to come up with similar kind of performance in this game also.
04:06Right, so India heavy favourites to win this game, are India also heavy favourites to win the tournament?
04:13Yeah, absolutely, I mean, apart from Sri Lanka, if I may say, I don't think there's any other team that could actually challenge this Indian team.
04:21Can Pakistan reach the final of the tournament? Will we see an India-Pakistan match three times in the space of 15 days?
04:27You know, in cricket, in life, in sport, you can never say never for anything.
04:31So, yes, by that logic, Pakistan can somehow make it to the final, like they've made it to the final in 2022 T20 World Cup, despite losing to Zimbabwe.
04:41But, pragmatically speaking, and looking at the form of every team, I think it's ideally going to be between two best Asian teams, India and Sri Lanka, the final.
04:51And hopefully, India will upset Sri Lanka to win the Asia Cup.
04:54Right then, that's the message. Pakistan, in no shape or form, can compete against India in Super 4, or for that matter, in the final of the tournament.
05:02And India are expected to be the heavy favourites to win the game once again.
05:06So, that's it from our end at India Today. Catch you at the next one.
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