India and Pakistan are all set to face each other again at MCG on October 23.
Ramiz Raja, the chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), has recently made headlines for his striking statements about arch-rivals India and the recent India vs Pakistan cricket matches.
Well, the former Pakistan captain has made yet another scathing statement about India, as both teams are set to face each other again on October 23 in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2022.
The PCB chief claimed that India wasn’t taking Pakistan seriously until the last T20 World Cup, where they were crushed by the Men in Green by 10 wickets in Dubai, and now they have started to respect Babar Azam and his team, following another defeat in Asia Cup 2022 in the UAE.
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Speaking to Dawn, Ramiz Raja said: “Skill aur talent se Jyaada mental match hota hain yeh. So agar aap temperamentally strong he and mentally focussed he aur haar manne ko taiyar nahi hain toh chhoti team bhi badi team ko hara sakti hain (India vs Pakistan match is more of a mental contest than skill and talent. If only you are mentally focused and not ready to give up, a small team can defeat a big team).”
He added, “Pakistan humesha se underdogs rahein hain jab bhi India se muqabla huye hain, but of late, unhone hume respect dena shuru kardiya hain kyunki unke khayal me yeh hain ki Pakistan hume kabhi hara hi nahi sakta (Pakistan have always been underdogs when they face India, but of late, they have started to respect us because they used to think they can never lose to Pakistan).”
Raja said that the current Pakistan team has been doing great against the "billion-dollar Indian side" despite not having the resources that India does, and now India has started considering them a strong team.
He signed off by saying, “I have played in the World Cups, but we were never able to beat India. Iss team ko credit dena chaiye kyunki limited resources, compared to India, se prepare karte he and tagda muqabla karte hain (We should give credit to this team because despite having limited resources in comparison to India, they give them a good competition.”