Abhishek Nayar believes that the Pakistan pace attack doesn’t give them an upper hand as India’s batters are ready to take on their arch-rivals as well. However, India and Pakistan will lock horns in an Asia Cup 2023 Super Four clash in Colombo on Sunday, September 10. India recovered from a top-order collapse to set a 267-run target in their campaign opener against Pakistan as well. However, the match did not see a result as rain played spoilsports.
On the AakashVani show on JioCinema, Nayar said: “If they have pace, we have batters who use the pace. We have seen the fashion in which Virat Kohli batted in the T20 World Cup. So we have such able players. I believe if there is someone who has pace, we have the kind of players who can overcome that. I don’t think anyone has the upper hand. Both are very good teams but we all know under pressure India has always come out triumphant and I am expecting that even in the near future.”
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The Pakistan pacers picked up all 10 wickets in the Group A game in Pallekele. They reduced India to 66/4 before Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya’s 138-run fifth-wicket partnership took them to a respectable score.
Robin Uthappa also backed Abhishek Nayar’s views, saying: “They do have some really quick and very skillful fast bowlers and Shaheen Shah Afridi has been in some amazing form in the recent past as well. So is Haris Rauf. Having said that, I think we have the batters in our side who are equipped to handle all of that.”
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Meanwhile, RP Singh also added that Pakistan have a slightly superior bowling attack. He said: “You can say they have a slight upper hand in the fast bowling department because we have slight injury concerns as well. All three of their bowlers – Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah – bowl close to 150 kph.”
