Can Pakistan Punch Above Their Weight?
Welcome back to another episode of Cricket Huddle’s State of Cricket podcast. Today, we talk about Pakistani cricket and big/bold statements being made. Ramiz Raja, the former Pakistani international player and current Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), recently said that India needs to come to Pakistan when they host the 2023 Asia Cup if Pakistan is to come to India when the 2023 ODI World Cup is being played. Can these types of statements be made, or is Raja (and Pakistan) biting off more than he can chew? Let’s find out what the crew thinks, and let us know your thoughts as always.
In the last five years, India and Pakistan have played each other six times. This is because they are now limited to facing off during tournaments, as bilateral ties between the two countries have been strained. Who knows if we will ever get to see the India-Pakistan matches of old, where travel between the two countries would still occur? For now, that big-money match is relegated to competitions like the T20 World Cup, ODI World Cup, and ICC Champions Trophy. In a lesser role, these two could also face off in the final of the ICC World Test Championship, should they both be in the top two in the rankings.
Anyways, India has always held a perfect record against the Men in Green in World Cups, up until last October. The 16th overall game of the 2021 T20 World Cup was the first and only time that Pakistan had won a World Cup game against India, and it was the first of two opportunities they had to beat the Men in Blue. That second game was during the Super 4 stage of the 2022 Asia Cup, back in September. That makes for two Indian defeats in the last four overall games played against the two countries. That number nearly became three, had it not been for a Virat Kohli masterclass in the 16th game of the 2022 T20 World Cup, when India won the game on the last ball chasing 160 runs.
We discussed how the statement by Raja had been hinted at for a while but not made public until about six days ago. BCCI secretary and Asian Cricket Council (ACC) president, Jay Shah, unilaterally said a month earlier that the Asia Cup would be moved to a neutral venue since India would not be traveling to Pakistan at all. This statement by Raja is a reaction to Shah’s earlier response, which he has the right to make all things considered. Pakistan is trying to show that it won’t be bullied into submission, but it is possibly impractical to execute the actions they want to take.
The fact that England thought it was safe to travel to Pakistan, where former Prime Minister Imran Khan was shot in the knee almost a month ago, surprised our crew. It’s even more surprising considering the decision taken by the English to bring their own chef in for this series… Wow, that’s really putting yourself out there as a walking target… Let’s see what our pundits have to say in regards to all this (think Ravi Shastri and his “tracer bullet”!) We also made our predictions in regard to the hosting of the 2022 Asia Cup and World Cup.
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