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'India hard to contain but Pakistan nearly unstoppable': Australia great predicts Asia Cup 2022 winner
Shane Watson highlighted that the Babar Azam-led side will be confident about getting the better of India after their exploits in last year's T20 World Cup at the same venue.
The anticipation and excitement surrounding India vs Pakistan Asia Cup match on August 28 in Dubai is reaching new heights as the tournament gets closer with each passing day. It takes no prize to guess that it is set to be the biggest contest of the continental cup beginning Saturday. Ahead of Sunday's big-ticket IND vs PAK clash, former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson shared his thoughts. Watson highlighted that the Babar Azam-led side will be confident about getting the better of India after their exploits in last year's T20 World Cup at the same venue.
"That first game is going to be very special to watch because Pakistan have full belief now that they can beat this Indian team. I think, really, whoever wins that game is going to go on and win the Asia Cup," Watson told ICC.
Pakistan had beaten India by 10 wickets to register their first victory over the neighbours in a World Cup match in any format during last year's world event. Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan with the bat and Shaheen Shah Afridi with the ball, had played stellar roles to down a full-strength Indian side.
"Their confidence is going to be flying high. India is hard to contain, especially their batting. But Pakistan, and as I’ve always known playing against them, when their confidence is high, they’re nearly unstoppable. And their confidence is high now that they know they can beat India in a big tournament," Watson added.
Watson was in two minds to predict the winner of the India vs Pakistan contest but he appeared to be slightly tilted towards the Babar Azam-led outfit. "I’m sitting on the fence a little bit!” Watson said with a laugh. “But I think Pakistan have a chance to win that game because of the confidence they’d have got out of winning for the first time in a long time against India," he said.
India, however, will take confidence from the fact that they had beaten Pakistan twice in the last edition of the Asia Cup. The former Australia all-rounder was confident that the Rohit Sharma-led Team India will be able to defend their title this time around.
"My predicted winner is India. They’re so strong and depending on what the conditions are, they adapt easily to conditions. [But] I’ve just got a feeling India [will win the tournament]. They’ve got so much firepower all the way through their batting order, so it’s going to be hard to be able to contain them," he added.
