Due to cross-border terrorism, India and Pakistan teams have not been able to play a bilateral series between themselves as the Indian government has not been allowing to do so. The only events that the arch-rivals meet in are multilateral – those organized by the  International Cricket Council (ICC). The World Cup and the Asia Cup are two such tournaments. While the Asia Cup is scheduled for next month, the ODI World Cup will be played in England next year.

Captain of the Pakistan team, Sarfraz Ahmed, ahead of the Asia Cup, has acknowledged that the men in blue are more experience as compared to their Pakistani counterparts. Moreover, he hopes that their upcoming match will be exciting since both the teams will be facing each other after a gap of more than a year. The last time when they met was the Champions Trophy final in England in June 2017, which India lost.

In an interview with Daily Times, Ahmed said, “Virat Kohli-led unit are more experienced than the Men in Green … I am hopeful that it will be a good match because this is the first time both sides are facing each other after the Champions Trophy Final.”

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When asked about the rescheduling of the Asia Cup, as has been requested by India, Sarfraz said, “I’m not aware of India’s protest on Asia Cup schedule. We will have a psychological edge over India because UAE is our home ground and we are in a better position to gauge the conditions and utilize it to our advantage.”

Of late, the Pakistan team has been giving a lot of importance to fitness training, in their attempt to stand out in the Asia Cup. Sarfraz said that the other teams have an edge over Pakistan when it comes to fitness, and hence they sifted their focus on improving in this particular area.

The Pakistan skipper concluded, “We have been a plan to work on our fitness which is why are focusing closely on improving in that area. After Asia Cup, we have important series against Australia and New Zealand which is why we are looking to stretch our good run of form in all formats.”