Abu Dhabi: Pakistan will find it difficult to get rid of the psychological barrier of losing to India in World Cups when they clash in their opening match, according to former pacer Aaqib Javed.
"It is to do with the psyche and, unfortunately, it has lived with us during the World Cup even when we were led by a charismatic leader of Imran Khan's stature," says Javed, who is now the coach of the UAE side.
He said the players cannot afford to treat an India-Pakistan contest as a normal game.
"If Pakistan takes it as another game, we will win, but India-Pakistan is never another game and it crosses all levels, however much we try," he was quoted as saying by Gulf News.
"In the 1992 World Cup we lost against India because we got excited, no, overexcited I can say. It is like New Zealand faltering after reaching the semis and South Africa choking at the last hurdle," Javed said.
"Kiwis and South Africans always had a strong team for World Cups but they too have a barrier that they have never crossed. For Pakistan, (that barrier has) been the match against India," he added.
Referring to Pakistan's 1992 success, Javed said: "Imran's message to Wasim (Akram) was to bowl as fast as he could and I was asked to try and get the ball to swing. However, the current Pakistan team is hugely hit in Junaid Khan's absence. (Mohammad) Irfan will produce pace and bounce, but Junaid could have swung the ball."
"(Wahab) Riaz can't bowl the new ball and Sohail (Khan) and (Ehsan) Adil have very little experience of ODIs. If you don't know who your two new ball bowlers are, then it is going to be tough," he said.
