‘Pakistan Will Be Out If…’: Ganguly’s Warning for Rizwan, Babar Ahead of India Clash in Champions Trophy

Ganguly’s Warning for Rizwan: The much-awaited match is drawing near in the ICC Champions Trophy group stage, as Pakistan travels to Dubai to play this crucial match with its bitter rivals, India. India got off to a winning start against Bangladesh, while Pakistan went down to New Zealand in a miserable performance — the result that has led former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly to declare that he sees host India crashing out in the group stages.

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At an event organized by Vura, a construction chemical company that has Ganguly as its brand ambassador, Ganguly said he expected India to keep dominating Pakistan in world events.

“India is a very powerful white-ball side. The recent record against Pakistan shows that India have dominated them for a long time now,” said Ganguly.

“In the last 25 years, as far as I can remember, India must have lost only once to Pakistan in a world tournament -- whether it's the Champions Trophy, World Cup, or T20 World Cup.” The last loss came in the final of the previous edition of the Champions Trophy, with Pakistan lifting the trophy as dominant victors.

‘Pakistan doesn’t play spin very well…'

But eight years later, Ganguly has now supported India to win the entire tournament. “India are not just favourites against Pakistan but for me, they are favourites for this tournament,” said the former southpaw batter.

Ganguly explained that the difference between the two was the quality spinners in India's line-up. While Pakistan has handled spin well in ODIs over the last couple of years, they have struggled with New Zealand, particularly with left-arm orthodox spin from Mitchell Santner.

Ganguly felt that Pakistan could struggle a lot against India, who also had Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja.

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“On the wicket in Dubai, they will need spinners. I presume this Dubai pitch will turn a bit, and Pakistan doesn’t play spin very well. India has quality spinners,” he said.

Finally, he said that he thought that India and New Zealand would qualify, unless of course, Pakistan lose two games. In that case, Pakistan would then also depend again on Bangladesh and India both beating New Zealand and going through on net run-rate.

"New Zealand have beaten Pakistan. So, New Zealand is ahead. If India beat Pakistan, then Pakistan will probably be out of the competition. So, I see India and New Zealand progressing from this group,” concluded Ganguly.

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