NEWS
Follow UsPakistan captain Babar Azam feels the pressure will be more on the fancied Indian side when the arch-rivals meet in the T20 World Cup on October 24. Team India are unbeaten against Pakistan in World Cup matches (50-over and T20), and are ranked one place above their rivals in the ICC T20 rankings.
With India being clear favorites heading into the clash, the Pakistan skipper feels that the pressure will firmly be on the Virat Kohli-led side to beat the Men in Green.
"I think India will be under more pressure as compared to Pakistan during the World Cup match.
The arch-rivals are set to clash in Dubai in the group stage of the World T20 Cup as per the draws released by the International Cricket Council. Both teams have not played any cricket against each other since the World Cup 2019 in England when India won comfortably.
But with the tournament now shifted to the UAE (from India), Azam opined that playing in the Middle-East will 'feel like home' for Pakistan, who adopted UAE venues as their own for nearly a decade.
"It is like playing at our home ground when we play at UAE venues and we want to give our 100 percent on the field coupled with that."
Pakistan, winners of the 2009 edition of the T20 World Cup, have been placed in Group 2 of the Super 12 stage, alongside India, New Zealand and Afghanistan (and two qualifiers). Incidentally, the clash versus the Men in Blue will be the 2009 champions' first outing in the competition.
Azam asserted that he would like to see his side kick-start their campaign by defeating their arch rivals.
"We would like to start our campaign by defeating India."
(with PTI inputs)