Former India cricketer Venkatesh Prasad feels that the Men in Blue will prove t o be too good for Pakistan in their upcoming Asia Cup clash against Pakistan. This will be both the teams' opening clash of the Super 4 stage so they will be looking to begin on a positive note. Prasad firmly stated that the difference of quality between the two teams is huge and claimed that India will definitely end up winning the match.
"There is no need to talk about India and Pakistan now because there is a lot of difference between the two teams. India is always on top. India will definitely win," Prasad told ANI.
Meanwhile, ever since the group stage clash between India and Pakistan, the Asia Cup has been marred with controversies with the latter being on the centre of most of it. During the previosu game between the two teams, India captain Suryakumar Yadav didn't do the customary handshake with Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha, leaving the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) agitated. They alleged that match referee Andy Pycroft told Agha to not shake hands with Suryakumar and demanded the former Zimbabwe cricketer to be dismissed from the Asia Cup.
PCB threatened to boycott Asia Cup
However, the ICC stepped in and denied PCB's request. The cricket board even threatened to boycott their clash against UAE, but the global body still didn't budge and even named Pycroft as the match referee for the same match. The clash between Pakistan and UAE would eventually go ahead after a one hour delay. It remains to be seen if more controversies will occur in the upcoming Super 4 clash between India and Pakistan.
India's dominance in Asia Cup
On the other hand, India reached the Super 4 stage after racking up three straight wins in the group stage. The Men in Blue first defeated hosts UAE comprehensively by 9 wickets before handing a comprehensive 7-wicket victory. They then went on to defeat Oman by 21 runs in their third match to top Group A with six points.
Coming to Pakistan, even though they recorded victories over Oman and UAE to qualify for Super 4, their performances haven't been convincing. They need to improve especially in the batting department as they are yet to cross the 160-run mark. Not to mention that their opener Saim Ayub is yet to open his run-account for the tournament as he has been dismissed for three consecutive ducks so far.