File image of Shoaib Akhtar with Virender Sehwag© AFP
The ICC 2023 World Cup schedule is out with the Rohit Sharma-led Indian cricket team playing the Babar Azam-led Pakistan cricket team on October 15 in Ahmedabad. The two teams have a great rivalry on the cricket field and play against each other in only ICC events. Regardless to say that the match between the two teams will be a closely watched affair. At the fixtures announcement event, former India opener Virender Sehwag gave his insights on the match.
“Everybody knows that all the focus is going to be on the India vs Pakistan match. I am ready to have a battle with Shoaib Akhtar during that game… on social media. The record says that India haven’t lost a World Cup game to Pakistan,” Sehwag said at the World Cup fixtures announcement event.
“We are ahead 7-0, out of which we have chased just once. Otherwise, each time India have batted first and put up a match-winning total. I’m not sure what will happen that day (October 15), but the team that handles pressure well will win.”
Matches between India and Pakistan are always a crowd puller and highly anticipated and when they occur at a World Cup then the expectations are amplified to another level. India has dominated this match-up, winning all seven clashes between the two rivals at 50-over World Cups.
At the last edition of the 50-over showcase, it was Rohit Sharma who proved to be the difference, with the current India skipper scoring a brilliant 140 to lead his side to a comprehensive 89-run (DLS method) victory in Manchester.
Rohit will be hoping to replicate that effort this time around in Ahmedabad, but his opposing skipper and world No.1 ODI batter Babar Azam is sure to be just as keen to give Pakistan the bragging rights. And fans of the team in blue will be hoping for a repeat of Virat Kohli‘s heroics from last year’s T20 World Cup in Melbourne, where he led India to a thrilling triumph over Pakistan in a dramatic run chase in front of a massive crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
With ANI inputs
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