Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja recently talked about the India and Pakistan cricketing rivalry and said that the Indian team has now begun to respect the Pakistan team after losing to them in the 2021 T20 World Cup.
India hadn’t lost to Pakistan in a World Cup match- 50 over or 20 overs- since 1992 which included the final of the 2007 T20 World Cup. Pakistan famously broke the jinx with a 10-wicket win in the last edition of the T20 World Cup.
Babar Azam and his men also defeated India in the Super 4s stage of the Asia Cup 2022, after losing to them in the Group stage.
“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),” Ramiz Raja told Dawn.
Ashwin, who is a part of India’s squad for the T20 World Cup 2022, said that he wasn’t aware of Raja's statement.
"Until you said that, I didn't know he made a statement like that. That's one way of dealing with it. But look, it's a game of cricket. Whatever political tensions and whatever stays between the teams, the rivalry is big, it means a lot to the people from both countries. But at the end of the day, whatever you may say as a cricketer and as someone who is playing the sport, you do understand that wins and losses are part of the game, especially in this format, the margins are going to be so close,” he said after India's warm-up match against Western Australia in Perth on Monday, October 10.
"To respect an opposition is not something that comes with victories and defeats. It comes in the way you are made. We definitely respect that Pakistani side and so do they," Ashwin added.
India and Pakistan will clash in the T20 World Cup 2022 on Sunday, October 23 at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
(India Today inputs)
