T20 World Cup 2022: “Pakistan team will face difficulty”- Aaqib Javed warns Babar Azam and Co. of Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Former Pakistan cricketer Aaqib Javed has warned Babar Azam-led Pakistan about the Indian bowling unit ahead of the Indo-Pak clash at the T20 World Cup 2022.

He said that the Men in Green could face a stiff challenge against quality Indian seamers like Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami. These bowlers are known to exploit seam conditions and often put the opposition in trouble.

The Pakistani batting unit relies heavily on their openers Babar and Mohammad Rizwan. If the Indian bowlers pick up early wickets, Pakistan’s middle order could get exposed.

Speaking to paktv.tv, Aaqib Javed said:

“Shami and Bhuvneshwar are very good seam bowlers. Pakistan team will face difficulty because it will be tough to score runs against them... Shami is a very good seam bowler when he gets assistance from the pitch and Bhuvneshwar is one of the best in seaming conditions.”

While Bhuvneshwar is known for his top-class bowling with the new ball, Shami will boost Indian bowling in both powerplay and death overs.

The latter made an excellent comeback to the T20 format in the warmup fixture against Australia. With 11 runs to defend in the final over, he picked up three wickets and led the Men in Blue to a narrow win by six runs.

Meanwhile, Bhuvneshwar has already scalped 32 wickets in 24 T20Is this year at an economy rate of 7.21.

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“It should be tit for tat” – Aaqib Javed feels PCB can withdraw from the 2023 World Cup in India

Aaqib Javed also feels that if India has decided against playing the Asia Cup in Pakistan, the latter can respond by boycotting the 50-over World Cup in India next year.

He, however, mentioned that these are government-level issues and that the BCCI and PCB can do nothing about the decision, but the timing of the tournament is quite tricky.

“See, the cricket board has nothing to do with it. These are government-level issues and the statement is from them, but the government takes the decision. Neither BCCI, PCB, or even ACC can do anything on this matter, but the tricky situation is that Asia Cup is in Pakistan and World Cup is in India. If they say we won’t come, Pakistan will say they won’t go to the World Cup. It should be tit for tat.”

On Tuesday, BCCI Secretary Jay Shah said that the Asia Cup would be played at a neutral venue. Speaking to ANI, Shah stated:

“We’ll have Asia Cup 2023 at a neutral venue. It’s the government that decides over the permission of our team visiting Pakistan, so we won’t comment on that, but for the 2023 Asia Cup, it is decided that the tournament will be held at a neutral venue.”

The development comes ahead of the Indo-Pak Super 12 clash in Melbourne on Sunday (October 23).