Growing up in the 90’s, India-Pakistan rivalry was synonymous with UAE. This was the decade when UAE was a buzzing cricketing destination and a match between the arch-rivals was the biggest draw. India then at the start of the millennium had decided that they will no longer play in the UAE, and the Asia Cup 2018 will be kind of a comeback for them after almost two decades.
The cricket relations between the two teams haven’t improved much. The Asian cricketing giants no longer meet each other regularly. Cricket matches between the neighbouring countries have now been relegated to only ICC events. The last time the two teams met was over a year ago in the Champions Trophy final where Pakistan hammered the Indian team by 180 runs to win the title.
In his latest blog for PakPassion.net, Fazeer Mohammed writes about his impressions of the Caribbean Premier League and its failure to develop the game in the region, Alastair Cook's retirement from International cricket, Virat Kohli's class and India's unhealthy dependency on his batting for their success and the issue of corruption as brought to light by Al Jazeera's latest documentary.
Fakhar Zaman has established himself as one of the most exciting limited-overs batsmen in world cricket - becoming the first Pakistan player to score an ODI double hundred and the fastest ever to reach 1,000 ODI runs. He discusses his World Cup ambitions, hopes of playing county cricket, and more...
In his latest blog for PakPassion.net, former Pakistan paceman Mohammad Zahid writes on a variety of topics including Pakistan's chances of success in the upcoming Asia Cup, why Pakistan needs to move on from Mohammad Hafeez, Fakhar Zaman as a potential Test player, Pakistan's performance in England in Tests and why change is necessary at the PCB in light of Imran Khan's appointment as the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
In his latest blog for PakPassion.net, Pakistan's bowling coach Azhar Mahmood writes about his impressions of Pakistan’s performances during the recently concluded tour of Zimbabwe, Fakhar Zaman’s work-ethic and courage, Faheem Ashraf’s hunger to improve himself with every game, the selfless attitude of the younger players, reasons for the exclusion of Mohammad Hafeez from the ODI side in Zimbabwe, Virat Kohli’s excellence in batting and Sam Curran’s potential as a good fast-bowling all-rounder for England.
With top quality batsmen lead by the likes of captain Virat Kohli, an Indian victory could well happen but as the former Indian batsman, Wasim Jaffer explained in an exclusive interview with PakPassion.net, there will be a need for an all-round effort if India are to gain the upper-hand in the upcoming Test series.
In his latest blog for PakPassion.net, former Pakistan captain Aamir Sohail writes about Fakhar Zaman's double-hundred, whether Fakhar should be picked for the Test side, Imam-ul-Haq's start in international cricket, Sarfaraz Ahmed's and Babar Azam's batting positions in the ODI team and Mohammad Hafeez's woes in Zimbabwe.