Sunil Gavaskar gives his honest verdict ahead of marquee India vs Pakistan match-up: 'If you look at skill...'

Arch rivals, India and Pakistan, are yet again up against each other in an ICC tournament as the two teams meet at the ongoing T20 World Cup in what is the third match of both the teams in the tournament. The match has added significance as the winner will most likely book their place in the next round.

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While Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) flip-flop attracted attention before this marquee match-up, the focus now shifts the on-ground skills. The legendary Sunil Gavaskar believes that India are huge favourites to win the game in terms of the skills that the two sides have.

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Gavaskar backs India to beat Pakistan

India have lost to Pakistan just once in the history of ICC events and are also coming on the back off three back-to-back wins over their arch rivals in last year’s Asia Cup. Gavaskar thinks Suryakumar Yadav’s men will continue their dominance because they have a better team man-to-man.

“If you look at the skill level as well, player for player, team against team, India appear stronger. They may have one or two impact players, Naseem Shah and Sahibzada Farhan,” Gavaskar told SportsTak.

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“But, if you look at the Indian team, there are many game-changers and impact players: Ishan Kishan, Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy and so on,” he added.

Gavaskar said that the Pakistani bowlers will have to produce some thing special if they have to defeat India.

“Still, we may talk about the possibility of winning in terms of percentage since it’s a T20 match. India must have at least a 70% chance of winning. There may be around a 30% chance that something unexpected could happen,” the cricketer-turned-broadcaster said.

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“Perhaps if Pakistan’s batting clicks in the powerplay or their bowling produces something special. But, overall, I don’t feel that in any department, whether batting or bowling, Pakistan have stronger options compared to the Indian team,” he added.