After losing 12 matches on the trot, Pakistan finally ended its streak of losing to India in World Cups during the T20 World Cup in the UAE in 2021. Openers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan helped Pakistan win by 10 wickets after the bowlers had laid the foundation with a strong performance. Former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis has revealed that pressure was never a concern for the high-octane clash against India, adding that the team used to choke against their arch-rivals at ICC events.
"In our times, the pressure wasn't that of a big concern as what it seems right now. The lesser you play against a team, that too against a big team - so whenever you'll play them, especially if it is Pakistan and India, the pressure would be immense and tripled. Pressure is always high, but maybe in our times, it was comparatively lesser because we used to play lots of cricket in my early days. But then again, in World Cup, we used to choke against India. Nonetheless, as I said, players these days are handling the pressure definitely better. These match-winners, which I mentioned earlier, they'll win us the game," Younis told Cricket Pakistan.
The legendary pacer, however, feels that the current crop of players are under more pressure as they don't get chance of playing India often due to the political differences between the two nations.
But, Waqar admitted that the Babar-led side has done well in handling pressure. He also named four game-changers who can star for Pakistan at the upcoming World Cup.
"Pakistan team have handled pressure in a better way in the recent past. In my opinion, it doesn't matter wherever you play, irrespective of whether in India or Pakistan, if you have your process in check and are executing your skills and plans sufficiently well, so I don't think so we have any issue. We have match-winners, we have individuals that can win you matches single-handedly, including Babar himself, Shaheen - Fakhar can do wonders, then, of course, we have seen Imam playing great innings, so all-in-all, Pakistan has all the resources definitely, now it's just the matter of putting things together and handling pressure," Waqar said.
India and Pakistan could face each other three times at the Asia Cup if both teams reach the final.
Both teams will also clash during the World Cup in India.