File photo of Sourav Ganguly© BCCI/Sportzpics
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly was quick to share his take on the India-Pakistan clash at the upcoming 2023 ODI World Cup after the International Cricket Council announced the tournament’s schedule. Ganguly downplayed the rivalry between India and Pakistan, saying India’s matches with Australia are more interesting. However, former Pakistani cricketer Basit Ali disagrees with the former BCCI president’s view and suggests that no match is bigger than the Indo-Pak game.
“I read Sourav Ganguly’s statement and was quite shocked. Ganguly, the ex-BCCI president has played top class cricket and was a fantastic captain who developed many players,” he said in a video on his YouTube channel.
“I don’t agree with him that the matches between India and Pakistan are one sided in favor of India. No doubt you have beaten us a lot in the ICC World Cups, but that hasn’t been the case since 2017. We beat India .” at the T20 World Cup in the UAE and last year in the Asia Cup, won one, lost one. Yes, India beat Pakistan at the T20 World Cup in Australia, but that was purely thanks to Virat Kohli. He won it single-handedly. Clearly the best T20 innings ever.”
About the cricket matches between India and Pakistan, Ganguly reportedly told Star Sports, “There is a lot of hype in this match but the quality has not been that good for a long time because India kept winning unilaterally. Pakistan probably beat India for the first time in the Dubai T20 World Cup.”
“India didn’t play well in that tournament (2021 T20 WC), but I think India vs Australia overall is a better match in the World Cup because the quality is better,” said the former BCCI chairman.
A ‘shocked’ Basit Ali even shared the ticket prices for the 2023 ODI World Cup to be held in India, highlighting that the India v Pakistan match is the most expensive of all.
At the end, he felt that Ganguly is just trying to play “mind games” with his remarks about the rivalry between India and Pakistan.
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