Pakistan know the condition very well: Sarfaraz Ahmed on why Babar's side holds advantage over India in Asia Cup

Asia Cup 2022 is all set to commence on 27th August and what makes this year’s tournament even more special is the re-ignition of the most sought-after rivalry that exists in cricket history – India vs Pakistan as the arch-rivals will lock horns with each other in their tournament opener on 28^th August at Dubai International Stadium in UAE.

The clash will be crucial for both the teams as Rohit Sharma-led India, defending champions and the most successful team in Asia Cup history, will be looking to regain their throne as the best in the continent, ahead of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup later this year, while Babar Azam-led Pakistan, who have some of the most highly ranked ICC players in their team, will be looking to assert their dominance in Asia and come out as one of the favourites.

Also, the Men in Blue will be eyeing revenge for the loss in the T20 World Cup last year, where Pakistan thrashed India by 10 wickets. However, a lot has changed for Team India since that defeat as Rohit Sharma took over as captain from Virat Kohli and there has also been numerous additions to India’s bowling strength and an increase in batting order experimentation.

Moreover, after the completion of IPL 2022, Team India has enjoyed a successful run in the T20 format as they defeated England and the West Indies in away series, while drawing 2-2 with South Africa at home (series-decider was abandoned due to rain).

On the other hand, Pakistan have played only one T20I in 2022 and that was against Australia. Notably, the Men in Green lost the match by three wickets.

However, former Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed believes that Azam’s side will hold the advantage over India when the two sides clash in the Asia Cup 2022 as Pakistan understand the conditions in UAE better.

“The first match of any tournament sets the tone of the campaign. Our first game is against India. Definitely, our morale would be higher because when we met the last time, Pakistan defeated India at the same venue. Pakistan know the condition very well because we have played PSL here and many home series as well. Yes, India have played in IPL here but they don't have that much experience of playing in this conditions,” Sarfaraz said in an interaction with Sports Paktv.

“It is important for Pakistan to have a fit Shaheen Shah Afridi. If you look at their current team, they have been playing good cricket. But our team, especially in the shortest format, have been playing good,” he further added.

Interestingly, India and Pakistan can clash against each other not once or twice, but potentially thrice in the tournament if both teams make it to the finals.

India Asia Cup squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan.
Standbys: Axar Patel, Deepak Chahar, Shreyas Iyer

Pakistan Asia Cup squad: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir