Asia Cup 2018: Sourav Ganguly and Ramiz Raja reckon India are favourites against Pakistan

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly and former Pakistani cricketer Ramiz Raja believe India will start as favourites against Pakistan on Sunday’s Super 4 clash. The two arch-rivals are scheduled to lock horns for the second time in this tournament after both progressed to its second stage from Group A. India and Pakistan played each other for the first time since the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy final, which Pakistan won convincingly by 180 runs.

However, in this year’s Asia Cup fixture, Pakistan were the ones humiliated after they were bundled out for just 162 on Wednesday, a total which India chased down without any trouble. Pakistan were up against Afghanistan in their opening Super 4 game, which went down to the final over. Veteran all-rounder Shoaib Malik pulled off a thrilling victory for the Men in Green with a four and a six.

India, on the other hand, haven’t faced much of a challenge since Hong Kong came within 20 odd runs of what would have been a huge upset. India were clinical against Bangladesh in their first game of the Super 4 phase, having registered a solid 7-wicket victory on Friday.

Throwing light on Pakistan’s issues with the bat, Sourav Ganguly said, “In such clashes, any team can win, but Pakistan will have to bat really well to win the game especially based on the evidence of their prior match against India. They will have to bat responsibly – something that we didn’t see the last time the teams met each other,” Ganguly was quoted as saying to IndiaTV.

Low-scoring tracks in UAE: Ganguly

Meanwhile, ‘Dada’ also had a word of advice for the players who were braving the sweltering heat in the UAE. “These pitches are not 300-350 tracks. You should look to get your eye in initially and get to 230-odd first. When the slog overs arrive one can afford to go ballistic, and the score can touch 260-270 which is a winning total on these surfaces,” he said.

Likewise, Ramiz Raja gave the edge to the Indians, saying, “60-40 would be my verdict considering that the Pakistanis are lacking in confidence. Amir seems low on confidence too, and so the necessary mindset to win games of cricket seems to have gone for a toss.”

The two teams will play each other in Dubai, while Afghanistan and Bangladesh will meet for a second time in the tournament in Abu Dhabi today.

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