‘India have won matches against Pakistan only when…’ Salman Butt says ahead of Asia Cup 2023

This year, Pakistan is set to host four matches of the Asia Cup 2023 while the rest 9 matches including the 5 Super Fours and Asia Cup 2023 final will be hosted by Sri Lanka.

Ahead of the India vs Pakistan match, former Pakistan cricketer, Salman Butt in conversation with Hafiz Muhamamad Imran on his YouTube channel said that India is no more a threat to Pakistan as the country plays effectively only when their star batters Rohit Sharma or Virat Kohli deliver on the field. In the 4.21 minutes conversation, he also spoke about India’s weak batting and fitness of the country’s fast bowlers. 

“If we look at India’s fast bowling, fitness is a concern. Players have been unfit for a long time, we don’t know if they are fragile, will they go full throttle,” he said in the video posted on his YouTube channel.

He also added, “Apart from Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, they have youngsters, who have played plenty of cricket but they don’t have that much of experience.”

In the video he also spoke about how Pakistan vs India matches are different. “Pakistan vs India matches are different. India have won matches against Pakistan only when Rohit Sharma has played well or Virat Kohli has done something spectacular. However, when the onus is on others they have mostly struggled,” he said in the video as quoted by HT.

Speaking about Pakistan’s strength he said that the team have a much larger core group. “Pakistan have Babar, Rizwan, Fakhar, Shadab, Shaheen, Haris Rauf. And in my opinion Pakistan have a much larger core group,” he said. He also added that Pakistan’s team have bowlers who can bowl at 90mph, spinners, fast bowling all-rounder who can touch 140kph.

In the video, he also said that India too have match-winners like Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jaspri Bumrah, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli. But the team’s battling is brittle. “If Pakistan pick the two big wickets then the others will have a lot to prove. They have not helped India win matches against Pakistan or in their own,” he said.

He also added there will be a lot of pressure on India as the expectation of an India vs Pakistan match is different. Taking a dig at IPL, he said, “Chahe subah, dopahar, sham IPL khel le, it does not bring the same pressure, which is during an India-Pakistan series.”

Earlier, Legendary cricketer Wasim Akram, a seasoned campaigner in these monumental clashes, shared his insights during a recent event. When asked about his perspective on the impending India-Pakistan match, Akram issued a cautionary note, reminding everyone of the unpredictable nature of the game. He referred back to the Asia Cup 2022, where expectations of an India-Pakistan final were turned on their head when Sri Lanka emerged victorious. “There are other teams competing too. Last time Sri Lanka won the title, India even failed to make it to the final,” Akram said.

“I have always maintained and said that politics and sports should be apart from each other. People-to-people contact is very important and the average Indian and Pakistani, they do respect each other. I hope eventually sanity prevails,” Akram said.

India’s team for Asia Cup 2023

Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna and Sanju Samson (Reserve).

Updated: 30 Aug 2023, 12:43 PM IST