'They become overexcited' - Sohaib Maqsood explains why Pakistan fails against India at World Cups

Pakistani batter Sohaib Maqsood has explained the reason behind the country’s struggles against India in World Cup matches. Both India and Pakistan are scheduled to play in the 2022 T20 World Cup fixture on the 23rd of October in Melbourne, Australia. Both teams last played against each other in the T20I World Cup in UAE last year, where Pakistan registered their first-ever World Cup win over India.

But before a win in UAE, India won all the World Cup clashes against their arch-rivals both in ODI and T20Is. Pakistan leads India in head-to-head statistics across formats, but India’s dominance in World Cup matches highlights the former’s failure. Maqsood believes that the pressure is not the real reason but is the over-excitement of playing against India on the biggest platform.

“The reason for the green shirts’ consistent defeat against India in World Cup matches is because the Pakistani team became overexcited (sic). However, in the recent past, our team has started treating Indo-Pak matches normally, and it has improved our performance too,” Maqsood said while speaking to Geo News.

I am still eager to represent Pakistan: Sohaib Maqsood

The 35-year-old middle-order batter missed last year’s World Cup due to an injury. He has struggled with injuries and form recently but is looking for a comeback with the upcoming Kashmir Premier League 2022. He has scored over 1000 runs in 55 international matches but has been a consistent performer in domestic cricket.

“A couple of international matches over a professional career of two decades does not justify my abilities. I was dropped from the national team multiple times due to injuries. I made several comebacks and am still eager to represent Pakistan,” he said.

India and Pakistan will resume their rivalry in the upcoming 2022 Asia Cup in UAE. Both teams can face each other again thrice in this tournament if they finish Group A table in the top two positions. Interestingly, India and Pakistan have never faced each other in the final in Asia Cup history.