T20 World Cup 2021: "I don't think India can compete with Pakistan" - Abdul Razzaq

Former Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq has opined that India does not play bilateral cricket with its arch-rival because the two-time 50-over world champions do not boast the same level of talent as the Babar Azam-led unit.

Razzaq recently appeared on a cricket show on ARY News where he was asked if there was any match between the talent the two cricket nations have.

"Do India have the kind of pace bowlers or all-rounders like Pakistan, or you feel there is no match?" asked the ARY News anchor.

Razzaq responded by claiming that India can't compete with Pakistan, and that is the reason why they don't want to play with the Men in Green. The former all-rounder further claimed that the kind of talent Pakistan boasts is unique, and India are nowhere near producing the same kind of talent.

"I don't think India can compete with Pakistan. The kind of talent Pakistan has is entirely different, and this I don't think is a good thing for cricket that India and Pakistan are not having matches."

"It used to be an exciting prospect and gave players the opportunity to show how much pressure they could handle. So that has gone missing. I feel that had it continued, people would have found out that the kind of talent Pakistan has, India does not,"said Razzaq.

India and Pakistan haven't played a Test match since the Mumbai terror attack in 2008 and their last bilateral meeting took place in 2012.

Since then, both sides have locked horns in the Asia Cup and ICC events, with India regularly getting the better of their arch-rivals. In the last 11 years, both sides have played 20 white-ball games, with India winning 15 of them.

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"This is why India doesn't want to play against us" - Abdul Razzaq

Razzaq's comments weren't restricted to the current crop of India-Pakistan players.

The controversial player went on to list the names of legendary cricketers both countries have produced over the years. He asserted that there is no comparison to the kind of talent that his country has produced compared to India.

Interestingly, he didn't mention Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar in the list of great cricketers India have produced. Razzaq said:

"India too has a good team, I'm not saying anything otherwise. Even they have good players. But if you look at it potential wise, we had Imran Khan, they had Kapil Dev. If you are to compare, then Imran Khan was a lot better. Then we had Wasim Akram, they did not have a player of that calibre."

"We had Javed Miandad, and they had Gavaskar. There is no comparison. Then we had Inzamam, Yousuf, Younis, Shahid Afridi… they had Dravid, Sehwag. If you look at it overall, Pakistan have always produced good players. All these are big reasons. This is why India doesn't want to play against us," he added.

The arch-rivals will lock horns at the T20 World Cup later this month, where India will look to make it 6-0 against Pakistan in the tournament.

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