Former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis has warned India ahead of their upcoming ICC World Cup 2023 match against the Men in Green, that the days of his team choking against the Men in Blue in ICC events are done.
He further added that the Pakistan team has all the resources now and will not bow in front of the pressure of playing India in the World Cup.
India has never lost to Pakistan in ODI World Cups since 1992 and it was only in 2021 that Pakistan managed to defeat India in the T20 World Cup in Dubai, the only instance of this happening.
"In our times, the pressure wasn't that of a big concern as what it seems right now. The lesser you play against a team, that too against a big team - so whenever you'll play them, especially if it is Pakistan and India, the pressure would be immense and tripled. Pressure is always high, but maybe in our times, it was comparatively lesser because we used to play lots of cricket in my early days.
But then again, in the World Cup, we used to choke against India. Nonetheless, as I said, players, these days are handling the pressure better. These match-winners, which I mentioned earlier, they'll win us the game," Younis told Cricket Pakistan.
India avenged the loss of the 2021 T20 World Cup, in the 2022 event in Australia when led by Virat Kohli, the Men in Blue defeated Pakistan in front of almost 90,000 fans in Melbourne in a thrilling encounter.
Waqar, who captained Pakistan in the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, has also named four game-changers, who can propel Babar and Co. to glory in the upcoming ICC event in India.
"Pakistan team have handled pressure in a better way in the recent past. In my opinion, it doesn't matter wherever you play, irrespective of whether in India or Pakistan, if you have your process in check and are executing your skills and plans sufficiently well, so I don't think we have any issue.
We have match-winners, we have individuals that can win you matches single-handedly, including Babar himself, Shaheen - Fakhar can do wonders, then, of course, we have seen Imam playing great innings, so all-in-all, Pakistan has all the resources, now it's just the matter of putting things together and handling pressure," Waqar said.
India and Pakistan are set to face each other in the World Cup 2023 in Ahmedabad, probably on October 14.
