Former Pakistan cricketer Salman Butt has made a bold statement ahead of the highly anticipated India vs Pakistan game in the Asia Cup 2023. He said that both of these teams aren’t dream units like the Australian team of the 2000s, who used to score 275-300 runs even after losing early wickets. 

India and Pakistan for the first time since the 2022 T20 World Cup will be playing against each other. The game will be an Asia Cup 2023 encounter and will be played on 2nd September in Sri Lanka. It’ll also be for the first time that they will be facing each other in the ODI game since the 2019 World Cup. 

India and Pakistan are currently among the top-rated teams in the world. Both have played brilliant cricket over a consistent period of time and have given immense entertainment to fans. The competition between bat and ball will be of the highest class when they will be up against each other. 

Fans might have the luxury to watch two arch-rivals India and Pakistan cross swords with each other for three teams if not two. After the clash on 2nd September, there is a high chance that they will face each other in the Super 4 stage as Nepal are the third team in their group. If both perform well in the knockout stage we might see them playing final as well. 

Salman Butt assessed the squads of both teams and said that both the team don’t have a chance to make experiments now. While highlighting the mighty Australian team of the 2000s, he added that both the teams aren’t like the Aussies and their competition is against other threatening teams. Speaking in a video posted on his YouTube channel, he explained: 

“There’s no chance to make experiments now. Neither of these sides are Australia of the 2000s who can do anything under the sun and still win. They would field new players and win the match, they would play old winners and still win. Both sides aren’t like that team, and they know it. 

“Their (India and Pakistan) competition is against teams who can be a threat on their days. Australia were miles ahead of any side. Even if they had lost five batters early, they could’ve still scored 275-300 runs in an innings. It was a dream unit. India and Pakistan aren’t dream units.” 

IND vs PAK: India’s batting was great under Dhoni – Salman Butt 

Salman Butt further talked about the India team and said that under the leadership of MS Dhoni, they used to have a great batting unit. But now if Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma don’t score runs they struggle to get going. He added: 

“India’s batting was great under Dhoni. Right now, they have to put up a show; if Rohit or Kohli doesn’t score big runs, it becomes hard for them against a good bowling lineup. And Pakistan, on their day, can be a very tough bowling side.” 

Here’s India’s squad for the Asia Cup 2023: 

Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, and Sanju Samson (back up). 

Here’s Pakistan’s squad for the Asia Cup 2023: 

Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Tayyab Tahir, Mohammad Haris (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim.

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