Former Pakistan player Rashid Latif said that the reason the men in Green lose more often than not while facing arch-rivals India is because they let their emotions get better of them during these high-pressure matches. The two teams will face off once again in the Asia Cup on Sunday, their first match since the Pahalgam terror attacks which strained the relations between the two countries to almost a breaking point earlier this year.
“We get emotional or hyper and try to do everything in one go. We don’t take the games deep against India and because of this, Pakistan lose most of the time. India on the other hand play according to the pitch and match situation and that’s why they succeed,” Latif said.
The two neighbours, who haven’t faced each other in a bilateral series for over a decade due to political tensions, only play in ACC or ICC tournaments like the Asia Cup and the World Cups with India having the lion’s share of the victories, winning 12 of the 15 completed matches in the last 10 years.
In the 2022 T20 World Cup at Melbourne, Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 82 pulled India out of trouble to win by four wickets off the final ball. A year later in the Asia Cup, India hammered Pakistan by 228 runs in Colombo, with their Super Four clash washed out. In the 2024 T20 World Cup in USA, Bumrah’s three wickets sealed a six-run win as India defended just 119.
‘There is pressure on Pakistan which they have been carrying for the last 30 years. So maybe India will try to take advantage of it,” Latif said.
India’s weakness
Latif, however, said that there’s a possible weakness for India when it comes to T20Is which is that they haven’t played in this format for a while now with their last T20I series being the bilateral series against England in January.
“The only disadvantage in India is that they have not played T20Is. They must be playing warm-up matches or practicing. But they have not played any match. This may be a disadvantage,” Latif said.
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Pakistan, meanwhile, come into the tournament having played a triangular series on difficult spinning tracks, an experience Latif feels could help them adapt quickly.
