Dubai: Former India pacer Zaheer Khan feels the defending champions have an advantage against arch-rivals Pakistan in the Champions Trophy Group B opener at Birmingham on Sunday.
“Looking at India’s track record against Pakistan in the ICC [International Cricket Council] events, India have the psychological advantage,” felt the left-arm great, who has taken 10 wickets in nine games against Pakistan, including a best of three for 66 during his playing career. Zaheer is in Dubai as part of an expert panel for OSN during the 18-day global event.
“India-Pakistan clash is always special, not only for the players, but special for everyone who’s watching the game. In terms of motivation, everyone knows the importance of the game and everyone is looking forward to it high-energy and high-intensity clash,” he said in a chat with Gulf News.
Zaheer, who has led the Indian pace attack under various captains since his debut in 2000, feels Indian bowling has the right mix and variety in the pace department that could threaten the rivals and also could give the team management a good headache to select the three pacers in the playing XI.
“It is a balanced attack. Bumrah has shown a lot of improvement in the last year. He has got a great yorker and a slower one and also has the advantage of the awkward action, which he is using brilliantly to his advantage.
“Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has had a good IPL [Indian Premier League], has got the consistent swing and has also added a yard or two of pace. Umesh [Yadav] has everything a fast bowler needs, including a brilliant domestic season and [Mohammad] Sami has better control over line and length.
Not since the days of Irfan Pathan, who had shown the promise to fill the boots of legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev, India has had a fast bowling all-rounder — but Hardik Pandya’s form has given them a good option.
“Pandya has had a good warm-up game against Bangladesh with the bat. He will play the role of the support bowler and if you have someone filling in the role of the fourth seamer, then the attack looks really good,” Zaheer said.
The real cause of worry is the lack of form of the top Indian batsmen going into the Champions Trophy, but the Delhi Daredevils captain, who plotted their downfall in the recently concluded IPL, is least concerned with that and feels it not an issue and the batsmen will deliver on time.
“It’s a different format from the Twenty20, the batsmen have lot more time in a 50-over game. India have one of the best batting line-ups and they will deliver for sure. It’s important for the batsmen to set the platform for the bowling unit to keep building on it,” he concluded.
