CricketFormer Pakistan Cricketer’s response to Ganguly’s ‘IND vs PAK is one sided’ remark
With more than three months to go for the World Cup, hotels in Ahmedabad are almost sold out, and flight ticket prices have skyrocketed. This is the atmosphere for India vs Pakistan match in the World Cup. The blockbuster match at the Narendra Modi Stadium on October 15 will be the biggest crowd-puller of the tournament, as it is the first time since 2013 that Pakistan will be playing an international match in India. A decade-long absence due to a number of factors will finally come to an end as the two countries vow to unite.
Mother of all battles has high stakes
It will be the first time since 2012 that Pakistan will be playing an international match in India. There were a number of factors, and due to the political tension between the two nations, the teams only used to face each other in International tournaments. Now, finally, after a decade, Pakistan is all set to return to India for the World Cup. The stakes for this mother of all battles are very high. Three out of the last four international matches played between these arch-rivals went down to the last over, ending in thrillers. However, former BCCI President Sourav Ganguly feels that India-Pakistan matches do not produce the quality that they used to, and he stated that India have had one-sided wins in recent past matches against Pakistan.
Former PAK cricketer expresses shock on Ganguly’s remark
Ganguly’s huge remark has mocked fans across the border, who claim to be a tough challenge for India, and reminded the 2021 T20 World Cup, where they won the group stage match by 10 wickets. Responding to Ganguly’s ‘one-sided’ claims, former Pakistan batsman Basit Ali expressed ‘shock’. While talking about Ganguly’s statement on his YouTube channel, he said, ‘Ganguly has played incredible cricket and was a brilliant captain who developed many players, but I don’t agree with his point that IND vs PAK matches are one-sided in India’s favour.
Ali stated, ‘There is no doubt that India have defeated us a lot in ICC World Cups before, but that has not been the case since 2017. We have defeated India in the T20 World Cup. Last year in the Asia Cup, we won one and lost one. India beat Pakistan in the 2022 T20 World Cup, but that was entirely because of Virat Kohli, who single-handedly won the match with the best T20 innings ever. Basit also disagreed with Ganguly’s theory, believing that India vs Australia would provide better quality. The former PAK cricketer said, There is a reason why India vs Pakistan is called the mother of all battles.
