Ahead of the `Super Four` match against arch-rivals Pakistan at Asia Cup 2025, Team India skipper Suryakumar Yadav has expressed confidence in his side and stated that the preparations have been excellent.
The “Men in Blue” are all set to lock horns against Pakistan for the second time in the ongoing continental tournament at the Dubai International Stadium on September 20.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Yadav said, “I feel our preparations have been excellent, leading into the tournament and we had 3 good games also, so we are actually focusing on what we can do best and as I said on the toss as well that we want to follow all the good habits, which we have been doing in the last 2-3 games and we will take one game at a time, but yeah, as you said, it doesn`t give us an edge, that we have played them once and we had a good game, so of course it will be a good game, we will have to start well from scratch and whoever plays well will win the game”.
Earlier, Team India had defeated the UAE, Pakistan and Oman in the group stage matches of the Asia Cup 2025.
The second meeting between the arch-rivals is expected to be more intense, as the previous match was marred by controversies over no handshakes by India and subsequent pull-out threats by Pakistan.
As the match is scheduled to be played on Sunday, the Indian skipper is also hoping for a large that more fans turn out to witness the intense rivalry.
“I mean, the way the country always supports in every game, the same way they should support in this game also, and since it`s Sunday, I think more people will watch the match, so they should sit comfortably and enjoy the game, and when we go to the ground, we will try to play with the same intensity, with the same energy and we always try to keep our A game ahead and we will try the same on the ground,” he said.
In their first meeting in the ongoing Asia Cup, Yadav top-scored with an unbeaten 47 off 37 balls as India chased down a 128-run target in just 15.5 overs.
This was the eighth time in the last nine T20Is between India and Pakistan that the chasing side has ended up winning. The only exception was the T20 World Cup game in New York last year, where India won batting first.
(With ANI Inputs)
