 "India vs Pakistan: Pujara sees slow Dubai pitch aiding Pakistan; Younis responds, 'You are being nice to us'")
Cheteshwar Pujara believes the slow nature of the pitches in Dubai will make the upcoming India vs Pakistan Champions Trophy 2025 clash a balanced contest. However, legendary pacer Waqar Younis feels the conditions will only give India an added edge.
Team India will take on Pakistan in the high-octane clash on 23 February at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. All of India’s matches in the Champions Trophy 2025 are scheduled in Dubai . They started their campaign on Thursday with a six-wicket win over Bangladesh.
While the majority of the wickets in the India vs Bangladesh match went to the pacers, the spinners had a better economy rate as they slowed down the scoring rate, resulting in a low-score match.
Slow pitch again help Pakistan: Pujara
Pujara sees India as favourites for their upcoming clash against Pakistan, but with the pitches being slow and spin-friendly, he believes Pakistan’s chances have improved.
“This is a big game, both teams will be under pressure. India will have an edge and are the favourite team but the wicket is such that the team who performs well on the given day will win,” Pujara said on the ’ DP World Dressing Room’ show.
“On a flat wicket or a pitch with less help for bowlers, I will say the odds are 80% in India’s favour but because of this pitch currently, the odds are only 60% in India’s favour and 40% in Pakistan’s favour. Because on this wicket if you suffer one bad innings, the match goes out of your hands.”
Pakistan bowling great Waqar Younis, part of the expert panel on the same show, disagreed with Pujara, arguing that the pitch conditions make India even stronger favorites. He pointed out that India has five spinners in their squad, while Pakistan has only one specialist spinner.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“You are being very nice to us. You are saying 80-20 in India’s favour on a flat pitch. Even if it turns, India have four spinners and we have one spinner.”
Defeat against NZ can cost Pakistan: Younis
Younis added that Pakistan’s qualification to the Champions Trophy 2025 semi-finals from Group A looks difficult after their 60-run loss to New Zealand which has heavily impacted their net run rate in a tournament where each team will play only three group matches.
“This is a small group. This was bound to happen. You should have worried about it from the very start. You did not and now you will pay for it. When you lose by such a big margin, even after winning (again) your qualification will not be guaranteed. Pakistan made a big mistake. The bowlers scored some runs otherwise we were going to lose to by over 100 runs. This will cost us,” Younis said.
Pakistan need to beat India to keep their semi-final chances in their hands. A defeat against India will push them to the brink of elimination.
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