Razzaq predicts India to continue dominate Pakistan in World Cups

Former Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq has said that India would continue to dominate Pakistan in the International Cricket Council events in the future as well.

Razzaq, who played for Pakistan at a time when the Asian giants were a force to reckon with in international cricket. Pakistan had a string of world-class performers and match-winners in their side and that set the team apart in their clashes against arch-rivals India in one-day internationals.

Pakistan got the better of India throughout the 1990s except for the ICC World Cup. Pakistan became world champions in 1992 and reached the final of the tournament in 1999, but they lost to the arch-rivals in both the tournaments in the group and super six stages, respectively. In 1996, when the two countries co-hosted the tournament with Sri Lanka, India knocked out Pakistan in the quarter-final stage.

And the trend has continued into the next century. India now have a far superior team and have also enjoyed the lion’s share of success in ODIs over the past two decades. They have also kept their unbeaten record against Pakistan in the showpiece event intact and Razzaq believes the same will continue in future as well.

“India will continue to maintain that record,” said Razzaq, who played in three Pak-India World Cup games (1999, 2003, 2011), was quoted as saying.

“It is rare that India and Pakistan play each other in knock-out matches of ICC events. They mostly play in the league stage and India are favourites. Our players are not able to absorb the pressure that comes with this game. We used to win a lot against India in Sharjah and also beat them in Canada twice. I remember the 1999 World Cup, people and media put pressure on the players before the game and we wilted. It has stayed like that, unfortunately.

“The pressure builds on the players though it is like any other match. The players are not confident about beating India in World Cup,” he said, adding Pakistan had the best chance of beating India in the 2011 edition,” Razzaq added.

India annihilated Pakistan in the 2019 ICC World Cup and hold a 7-0 head-to-head advantage over the bitter rivals in ICC World Cup.