“Pakistan will find very hard to dislodge Indian team” - Ex-Indian captain warns Pakistan

Former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin has stated that the current Pakistan team looks depleted in the absence of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, who have been excluded from the shortest format of the game.

In an exclusive conversation with NDTV, Azharuddin asserted that the Indian team, led by Suryakumar Yadav, has an outstanding quality of players who are performing with distinction, and the Pakistan side will find it hard to dislodge the Indian team in the ongoing campaign.

"We have an outstanding quality of players. We have great players. We already have players who are performing with distinction. The Pakistan team will find very hard to dislodge Indian team in this tournament because we have lot of experience. At the same time, the Pakistan team, they don't have the best players. They have dropped Babar Azam and (Mohammad) Rizwan so the team looks very depleted," Azharuddin said NDTV in an exclusive conversation.

On the other hand, another former Indian cricketer, Nikhil Chopra, who was also part of the conversation, reckoned that there is a lot of competition within the Indian team, and that a lot of quality players aren’t managing to make it to the final 15.

"You look at the 15 for Team India. You look at the experience and the match-winners. Somebody like Yashasvi Jaiswal is not getting an opportunity to make the squad. We are talking about Arshdeep (Singh) not getting a game. It just goes to show the quality (of the team),” Chopra stated.

Furthermore, Chopra also noted that the current Indian playing XI can turn the game upside down, courtesy of the Indian Premier League and the infrastructure of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

"The three spinners that India are looking to field. Jasprit Bumrah, Shivam Dube - the all-rounder, Hardik Pandya, with the ability that he has to win games. You look at the 11 or 15. On their day, they are all able to turn the game on its head. Thanks to the IPL, thanks to the infrastructure of the BCCI," he concluded.

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