ISLAMABAD – Former captain Wasim Akram has said that Pakistan’s win againstIndia in the opening match of the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE had boostedtheir confidence and now they ‘believe they can beat India day in and dayout’.
“Pakistan team is on the rise for the past couple of years. They’ve beenconsistent, and I think the win against India, although that was a year agoduring the World Cup, gave them a bit of confidence that they can competeagainst India day in and day out,” Wasim said in a media session, organisedby Star Sports.
Akram sounded optimistic but wanted Pakistan players to be mindful of howtheir inherent strength – the top order – should not become a weakness.“Since the start of last year’s T20 World Cup, Pakistan’s top three havescored 67.53% of all runs made by the team in T20Is. This has largely beendown to Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman,” he noted.
“The only thing I’m worried about is the middle order. There is noexperience apart from Iftikhar Ahmed coming in at No. 4, and then you’llhave probably Haider Ali, a young sensation who has not been consistent.Babar Azam and Rizwan are the key as far as the T20 format is concerned,”he said.
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“I think in general they are confident, but it depends on how they feel orwhat sort of mindset they are in when they arrive before the India-Pakistangame because that game can make to break the Asia Cup for either side,” headded.The erstwhile bowling great said comparisons between Pakistan captain Babarand Virat Kohli were inevitable, given the kind of impact they have had ontheir respective teams
. “It’s only natural. When we played, people compared Inzamam-ul-Haq withRahul Dravid or Sachin Tendulkar. Before that, it was Javed Miandad versusSunny Gavaskar. Gundappa Viswanath and Zaheer Abbas, so it is[comparison]only natural.
