Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed has expressed his feelings about playing against India and entering the World Cup 2019 as underdogs.

The Pakistan ODI team recently lost a home series against Australia 5-0. However, the top five members of the subcontinent side including captain Sarfaraz were rested.

In his press conference, the 31-year-old said, “Look, when we go as favourites, then it's a problem, but if we go as underdogs then other teams feel the danger, so I think being underdogs is good for us and eases the pressure.”

Before the World Cup, Pakistan will travel to England to play a five-match ODI series and a lone T20I against the hosts. This series will help the team to acclimatize to the conditions that will be similar to those in the World Cup.

The mega tournament has a round-robin stage where all the ten teams will play against each other before the semi-finalists are decided. Pakistan will also have to play their arch-rivals India. According to Sarfaraz, the Pakistan team play their best cricket against their arch-rivals. Hence, they will consider all the nine matches as matches against India.

Sarfaraz said, “For us all nine matches are important so we will take every match as a match against India.”

Pakistan have never beaten India in an ICC World Cup fixture. India have a 6-0 record against their neighbours. However, Pakistan won the final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 and he feels that the win must have put the pressure on India.

He said, “We have beaten India in a bigger event recently so we will have that advantage.”

He also revealed the Pakistan team’s theme for the World Cup – “We have, we will.”

Pakistan will open their World Cup campaign against West Indies on 31 May. The much-awaited India-Pakistan clash is scheduled on 16 June.

(With AFP inputs)