The buzz for the mega India vs Pakistan clash in the T20 World Cup has hit the roof as several former cricketers have arrived in New York to witness the mouth-watering contest. Former India cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu caught up with veteran Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi ahead of the contest and had a jovial chat.
Sidhu is part of the commentary team of broadcasters Star Sports, while Afridi is one of the brand ambassadors of the T20 World Cup.
The former India batter hailed Afridi and asked him why have Pakistan not produced players like him in recent times.
Here's how the conversation between Sidhu and Afridi went -
Sidhu: "Handsome Afridi! Have you seen anyone smarter than him?"
Afridi: "Paaji ke saath humne bohut cricket kheli hai ji (We have played a lot of cricket with him)".
Sidhu: "Tumhare paas aise bande kahaan chale gaye (Where did these kind of players go?")
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Ahead of the tournament, Afridi heaped massive praise on Pakistan bowling unit and called it the strongest one but they didn't live up to the expectations in the opener against USA where they suffered a massive upset.
{{/usCountry}}Ahead of the tournament, Afridi heaped massive praise on Pakistan bowling unit and called it the strongest one but they didn't live up to the expectations in the opener against USA where they suffered a massive upset.
{{/usCountry}}"I think in any cricket team in the world, nobody has such a strong bowling line-up. All our four fast bowlers have a lot of skill and even the bowlers sitting on the bench like Abbas (Afridi) have a lot of skill with a good slower ball," Afridi said in a video posted by ICC.
Meanwhile, Sidhu has backed India to win the high-octane clash against Pakistan.
"If you're winning against Pakistan, then you are zero from hero even if you have not done anything in your previous seven matches. It is the mother of all battles, and the most important thing here is the pressure of expectation," Sidhu told ANI.
The former India opener said the recent results of the Pakistan team on UK tour and upset against USA in T20 WC gave India a big advantage.
"India will have an advantage because Pakistan have not performed in their previous matches. They lost against England in the warm-up match and also against the US. On the other hand, India is in the ascendancy and all the players are in form. Pakistan's batting lineup is not working, and they are not aware of the conditions here in New York," he added.