India have beaten Pakistan in all the cricket World Cup matches. Starting from 1992 to 2011, India always had the last laugh. So the Adelaide match on Sunday, according to some of the experts, could also become another cake-walk for India.
And this is the kind of start India would need after a dismal Australian tour. Both legends of the game — Sunil Gavaskar and Ian Chappell was quoted as saying in the media that said that Pakistan are unlikely to break their World Cup jinx this time also.
“Both teams are going into the World Cup not in great touch. Pakistan are also struggling as they had lost to New Zealand recently, it could be even-steven. But I think India will start as slight favourites because of their past records,” Gavaskar was quoted as saying.
He then went on to say that Pakistan without Saeed Ajmal is not the same team. “Without a doubt, Ajmal was half the Pakistan side and they will be hit hard without him. He is a wicket-taking and a containing bowler. He is just like Muttiah Muralitharan in his prime days in the Sri Lankan side,” he pointed out.
Chappell too agreed. He said, “They (Pakistan) won the World Cup in 1992 but at that time they had so many match-winners in Imran Khan, Javed Miandad, Wasim Akram, Inzamam-ul-Haq. They don’t have those match-winners in the current team. The loss of Junaid Khan is also a big blow for them.”
The former Australian captain also said that India are acclimatised to the conditions better than Pakistan: “India have been playing in Australia for the past two months and they have acclimatised more to the conditions than the Pakistanis. Moreover, India played really well in the (first) Test against Australia in Adelaide. They even had a chance to win the Test and lost it in the last hour. So, taking all these into consideration, India start as favourites,” Chappell explained.
