India will take on Pakistan in the ICC Champions Trophy ion Sunday and the senior pros of both the teams have started playing the mind games. Abdul Qadir, Pakistan's former leg spinner, has made it clear that it’s not going to be an easy task for India to beat Pakistan in their final league match of ICC Champions Trophy 2013.
He was quoted by Times of India saying,” Pakistan is out of contest but it’s going to be interesting to see how India will play against them. India are in much more pressure as they are in the race for winning the Champions Trophy. It’s like a final before the final for Indian team who have been doing well because of their opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma.”
Dhawan and Sharma have been stupendous with the bat as they have scored couple of centuries and half-centuries respectively. He added, "India are playing like champions and I think they will play the final. Their strength lies in their batting. Despite the absence of Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir in their line up, they are scoring 300 plus runs.”
Qadir was quoted by Indian Express saying, "They played brilliantly in first two matches. They also have two new match winners in Shikhar Dhawan and Ravindra Jadeja. India enjoy upper hand but Pakistan are capable of springing surprises. They will give their best in this match and we must not forget that Pakistan has one of the best bowling combinations.”
He added, "Whenever India and Pakistan play, there is always a different kind of feeling. People do not keep in mind the importance of the game; they only want to see their team winning it. It is final before actual final for cricket fans of both the countries.
Former leg-spinner was quoted by DNA saying, "India will try to keep the winning momentum while Pakistan will put some extra effort for their fans as they don’t want to lose this one after two defeats. India have improved a lot as far as bowling is concerned. They have good pace bowlers and everyone knows about their spinners. If they include leggie Amit Mishra in the final eleven, it will be a perfect attack.”