India will take on Pakistan in the much-anticipated, blockbuster, tension-inducing Champions Trophy clash on Sunday, February 23, at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. (More Cricket News)
The highly anticipated match is considered one of the greatest rivalries, and the contest is expected to get much hotter after BCCI refused to send the Indian cricket team to Pakistan, after a hybrid model was adopted.
Pakistan will come into the contest under a lot of pressure, after losing the tournament opener to New Zealand by 60 runs.
Building up to the fantastic contest, Navjot Singh Sindhu, speaking on JioHotstar바카라s Greatest Rivalry Returns, believed that it truly was the biggest battle in cricket.
"It is the mother of all battles. There바카라s nothing bigger than this. I think it's the tension that holds everybody together. When 150 crore people expect a win from you, they will never swallow a defeat. There is a culture of retribution. This game is played more between the ears than between the hands바카라it's a psychological battle,바카라 Sidhu said.
Former Pakistan superstar Shahid Afridi, opened up on the opportunities that the massive showdown gives the youngsters to reliase a dream.
"For a cricketer, an India-Pakistan match is a golden opportunity, especially for youngsters. It was always my dream,바카라 Afridi said.
The 47-year-old also shared his experiences about his mental preparation before any India-Pakistan fixture.
Before a match, I couldn바카라t sleep at night바카라I would think about my performance and how I couldn바카라t afford to miss this chance. Even if I hadn바카라t performed in the last five or six matches, if I did well in an India-Pakistan game, everything would be forgiven. That바카라s how big this rivalry is,바카라 he added.
Pakistan have been dealt a massive blow after an injured Fakhar Zaman was ruled out of the Champions Trophy. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have named Imam-ul-Haq as the replacement.
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Pakistan: Mohammad Rizwan (c), Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Tayyab Tahir, Faheem Ashraf, Khushdil Shah, Salman Ali Agha, Usman Khan, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi.
