DUBAI (AFP): Knowing that another loss would all but end their championship defense, Pakistan will play their bitter rivals, India, in a Champions Trophy thriller on Sunday in front of a sold-out crowd in Dubai.
Due to political sensitivities, the neighbors only clash in multi-country tournaments. This match is being played in Dubai after India declined to go to Pakistan, the tournament’s host nation.
Pakistan is under siege in front of an anticipated packed house at the 25,000-seat Dubai International Stadium, with hundreds of millions more people riveted to their TVs.
Realistically, Mohammad Rizwan’s team has to defeat favorites India in order to go to the semi-finals of the eight-nation event after losing badly to New Zealand by 60 runs in the first match of the ODI competition in Karachi.
On a higher run-rate, New Zealand leads Group A ahead of India, who defeated Bangladesh by six wickets on Thursday. Pakistan sits at the bottom of the group, in fourth place.
The semi-finals are reached by the top two teams in each of the two groups.
Salman Ali Agha, a batsman for Pakistan, stated, “We will need to bring consistency if we want to win against the great teams of the world and be one of the great teams of the world.”
“We can’t play well in one game and bad in another.”
Pakistan lost to New Zealand in the final, crashing to 242 all out after chasing down a record 353 against South Africa at home last week in a tri-nation event.
Their top batsman, Fakhar Zaman, had a muscular injury on Wednesday, which dealt them a serious blow in the defeat. He will not be participating in the competition.
In 2017, Imam-ul-Haq replaced a squad that had destroyed India in the previous Champions Trophy final.
Since that last ODI loss to Pakistan, Rohit Sharma’s team has defeated their fiercest opponents five times in a row, with one match being rained out.
The last time they played each other, India won by seven wickets in a one-day match in the 2023 World Cup in Ahmedabad.
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