Former Pakistan batter Basit Ali has taken a dig at ex-India captain Sourav Ganguly who said that in recent times, the India-Pakistan games have lost their sheen.
India and Pakistan are set to clash in the ICC World Cup 2023 on October 15 at the largest cricket stadium in the world, the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Pakistan has never been able to defeat India in 50-over World Cups in seven instances thus far since their first meeting in the 1992 World Cup.
Sourav Ganguly feels the sheen has been taken off India-Pakistan matches given India's 'one-sided' wins lately. Ganguly said: "There is a lot of hype in this match but the quality has not been that good for a long time because India kept on winning one-sided. Pakistan probably defeated India for the first time in the T20 World Cup in Dubai."
Former Pakistan batter Basit Ali said that he was shocked at the statement made by Ganguly and while he admired his contribution to the game as a cricketer and then as BCCI President, he shared some facts.
"I read Sourav Ganguly's statement and was quite shocked. Ganguly, the ex-BCCI president has played top-class cricket and was a fabulous captain who developed a lot of players," he said on his YouTube channel.
"I don't agree with him saying that India vs Pakistan matches are one-sided in favor of India. No doubt you have beaten us a lot in ICC World Cups before but that hasn't been the case since 2017. We beat India at the T20 World Cup in UAE and last year in the Asia Cup, won one, and lost one. Yes, India defeated Pakistan at the T20 World Cup in Australia but that was purely because of Virat Kohli. He won it single-handedly. The best-ever T20 innings,” Ali added.
Ganguly had also said that India vs Australia tends to be a better game in the World Cup because the quality is better and Basit Ali disagreed with the same.
Ali believes there is a reason why India vs Pakistan is called the mother of all battles while playing down Ganguly's attempt of getting under Pakistan's skin.
"He also said that India vs Australia is a bigger crowd puller than India vs Pakistan. To that, I would just want to say that 'Brother, when India plays Australia, are roads in your country empty? No. They are empty whenever there's an India-Pakistan match - both in India and in Pakistan. Everyone is glued to their TV screen and is praying. Look at the ticket prices for the World Cup; India-Australia costs are nowhere close to India-Pakistan's. So I feel that Ganguly - DADA ji - is just trying to play mind games," added Basit.
(Hindustan Times inputs)
