Sarfraz Ahmed wants to start the Asia Cup with a win against India

The Indo-Pak rivalry is like none other in the cricketing world. Since the two teams have not been involved in a bilateral series for quite some time in the past, the prospect of witnessing the two arch-rivals face off against one another in the upcoming Asia Cup has the fans excited beyond measure. Pakistan skipper, Sarfraz Ahmed recently expressed his intent to kick off his team’s campaign with a win against India.

India had previously held the record of being undefeated against Pakistan in all ICC events- a feat that was broken by Pakistan’s victory in the final game of the 2017 Champion’s Trophy. In the imminent Asia Cup, Pakistan will encounter Hong Kong in Dubai on September 16 for their first match of the tournament, followed by the game against India on September 19.

Sarfraz Ahmed confident of his team’s abilities

As reported by Times Now, Sarfraz is confident of his side’s ability to emerge victorious against India. Speaking about his side’s eagerness to start the Asia Cup proceedings in the right way, he said, “Our preparation is very good. We will try to use the four days we get in the UAE and prepare well. Every match we play against India is important. The match against India will be our first big match and we will try to gain the momentum. We will try to be fully prepared against India.”

Elucidating further on how his national side is looking to tackle the enormous pressure of taking on India, the Pakistani skipper said, “I have already said momentum is very important for big events and here also momentum would be the key. The team has high hopes and the morale is also very good. So we will try to gain the momentum from the first match and carry that till the end.”

India will be playing without the services of their regular skipper, Virat Kohli who’s been rested for the series. The tournament is scheduled in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will also figure as a deciding factor in the way which the games will swing.

“If you look at the pitches there (UAE), they are generally slow in nature. So the spinners’ role would be very crucial. If we bat first, we would like to post 300 plus targets and if we do so we have bowlers to defend that target,” said Sarfraz.

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