In my opinion, I feel that India and Pakistan will contest the final: Former Afghanistan captain Asghar Afghan

Former Afghanistan captain Asghar Afghan reckons that arch-rivals India and Pakistan will meet again in the final of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2022. The euphoria of their blockbuster rivalry has been high ever since the Men in Blue registered the final ball victory by four wickets at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) last weekend. 

Chasing a competitive total of 160, India were on the mat after being reduced to 31/4 in seven overs before Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya bailed them out with a 113-run stand. Kohli was yet again the man for the moment as he chipped in with an unbeaten 82 runs off 53 balls. 

Asghar Afghan picks his World Cup finalists

"As a fan I want to tell you that I am still with Australia and England (picking his finalists). Secondly, it's India and Pakistan. I still reckon that it could be India and Pakistan. Let me tell you something that from the second round Pakistan have a lot of chances to make the finals and even India have a lot of chances," said Asghar while speaking on 'BatBricks7 presents Run Ki Runneeti' on CricTracker. 

"In my opinion, the two teams will once again meet in the final, but I want to tell you that Pakistan might have an upper hand over there with the way they competed in the last game (Super 12 clash against India), the way they bowled. It was because of Virat Kohli that India were able to pull off that one. Kohli has won all the matches for them against Pakistan and if Kohli is dismissed, India can find themselves in a spot of bother," he added. 

"In my opinion, I feel that these two teams (India and Pakistan) will contest the final," Asghar Afgan further added.

While the Indian team recovered from a hopeless postion to reach closer to the target in the final over, they also had a fair share of luck with the pair of Virat and Dinesh Karthik accumulating three runs off a free hit as the ball deceived Virat and cannoned into the stumps before trickling down to third. 

As soon as Kohli deposited the fourth ball from Nawaz into the stands, he instantly made it clear to the on-field umpire that it was a no-ball much to the dismay of the Pakistan players with skipper Babar Azam going on to confront the match officials. 

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