India is playing Pakistan for a second time this week on September 23.
India and Pakistan are set to meet for a second time within a week's time on September 23 in Dubai. The Men in blue defeated their arch-rivals on September 19 in the group stage of the Asia Cup 2018 and this time the two nations meet in the Super Four stage. IndiaTV's cricket expert Sourav Ganguly and former Pakistan international Ramiz Raja agreed on the eve of the clash that India are the favourites to win the upcoming clash.
On IndiaTV's show 'Cricket ki Baat' Ganguly said, "In such clashes, any team can win but Pakistan will have to bat really well to win the game especially based on the evidence of their prior match against India. They will have to bat responsibly - something that we didn't see the last time the teams met each other."
Sourav emphasised that these are taxing conditions for the players with the heat and humidity levels being very high and so the batsmen must look to consolidate initially before going for the kill in the final overs.
"These pitches are not 300-350 tracks. You should look to get your eye in initially and get to 230-odd first. When the slog overs arrive one can afford to go ballistic and the score can touch 260-270 which is a winning total on these surfaces," added Dada.
There have also been questions raised over Pak spearhead Md. amir's poor form with the ball. Dada thinks that the Pak captain Sarfraz Ahmed has to play a key role in instilling the confidence in his players and bind the team well together in a solid unit. The former captain said that India is definitely the better team on paper but its anyone's game when the two teams meet in the Super Four clash on Sunday.
Ramiz who joined the conversation from Geo News' studio, agreed with Sourav and said that India's chances of winning the match are 60-40 in their favour.
"60-40 would be my verdict considering that the Pakis are lacking in confidence. Amir seems low on confidence too and so the necessary mindset to win games of cricket seems to have gone for a toss," concluded Ramiz.
