Asia Cup 2018: India Shouldn't Get Intimidated By Pakistan: Sourav Ganguly

Former India skipper Sourav has said India should not get intimidated by Pakistan in the upcoming Asia Cup.

The form and conditions are pretty much in favour of Pakistan. The Men in Green have enjoyed good success since moving their base in UAE after the attack on Sri Lanka team bus in 2009. Pakistan have played 172 ODIs in UAE and won 106 of them. They have better winning record against all Asian Nations in UAE, particularly versus India and Sri Lanka.

Against India, Pakistan have won 19 out of 26 ODIs although most of them came during the 90s when both the Asian heavyweights used to play often in Sharjah.

Moreover, the recent form is also in Pakistan’s favour. Pakistan players will be brimming with confidence after the 5-0 thrashing of Zimbabwe. On the other hand, India will enter the Asia Cup after a forgettable tour of England where they lost the ODI as well as the Test series. The absence of their talismanic skipper Virat Kohli has only made things tough for India.

However, despite the odds stacked against India, Sourav Ganguly feels the Men in Blue should not be intimidated by Pakistan.

“Yes, Pakistan play well there. But India shouldn’t get intimidated. They should still do well. Conditions there are more or less same as that of the subcontinent. Besides, India are a good ODI team. They are a fine team and have a very good chance of winning the tournament,”   Ganguly told reporters at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

“But all said and done, they need to play well,” Ganguly added.

India, the defending Asia Cup champions, will start their Asia Cup campaign on September 18 against qualifiers Hong Kong. On the very next day, they will take on arch-rivals Pakistan. This is the first meeting between the two neighbours since the final of Champions Trophy last year which Pakistan won handsomely.