India and Pakistan will meet in a blockbuster clash in the men's Asia Cup 2022 on Sunday. Both sides will renew their rivalry for the first time this year, having last met in T20 World Cup 2021 when Babar Azam's Pakistan had secured a cruising 10-wicket victory in Dubai. Incidentally, India and Pakistan will meet at the same venue in the Group A game of the continental tournament. The Indian team saw significant changes since the dismal outing in the T20 World Cup including a switch in captaincy from Virat Kohli to Rohit Sharma, and emergence of a number of quality pacers among other additions.
Under Rohit, India will be aiming to move past the stunning loss last year but former India skipper Kapil Dev says that even as the Indian team look far better on paper, it's the performance on the field that would eventually decide the result. Kapil added that India were a similarly better side in the last year's T20 World Cup as well.
“You can't be sure about anything in T20. You can predict to some extent in ODIs and T20Is, but it is very difficult to predict in T20s. I will say that our team has experience and they are better, but we were better last time as well. So, it's quite difficult to say anything,” Kapil said on YouTube channel Uncut.
“Still, if you go into stats and players, Indian team is far better. But it all depends on how the side plays on that particular day,” the World Cup-winning former India all-rounder said.
{{/usCountry}}“Still, if you go into stats and players, Indian team is far better. But it all depends on how the side plays on that particular day,” the World Cup-winning former India all-rounder said.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier, Indian captain Rohit Sharma had stated that even as the loss against Paksitan last hear did hurt the side, it will be a fresh start for the team when it reignites the rivalry with Babar Azam's men on Sunday.
"We do talk about our losses, that's how we improve as a team. That loss did hurt us at that point, but I think it's been a while since that game has been played," said Rohit in the pre-match press conference.
"We learn from our mistakes. For now it's a fresh start for us and obviously the team is coming out of playing a lot of T20 cricket. We will not think too much about what happened in October, that was a long time back."