‘Conditions in India Felt Similar to Pakistan, Last Warm-up Felt Like Playing in Rawalpindi’: Shadab Khan

Pakistan vice-captain Shadab Khan has shared his views on playing in the upcoming ODI World Cup in India. Pakistan have travelled to India after 7 years as the last time they visited India was during the 2016 T20 World Cup. Mohammad Nawaz and Salman Ali Agha are the two current Pakistan squad members who previously visited India for a showpiece event. Due to the political tension between the two nations, India and Pakistan face each other in multi-nation tournaments of ICC and ACC only.

Pakistan have started their World Cup preparation in India as they played a warm-up match against New Zealand in Hyderabad on Friday where they suffered a defeat.

Shadab said that the conditions in India are similar to Pakistan and they felt like playing in Rawalpindi during the warm-up match versus New Zealand.

“The conditions so far in India have felt similar to Pakistan. Even the last warm-up felt like we were playing in Rawalpindi,” Shadab told media reporters.

Meanwhile, Shadab feels that the team with a good bowling attack will win the ODI World Cup considering the conditions in India.

“I feel the champion of this World Cup will be a good bowling side because the conditions here offer flat tracks and small boundaries. We have world-class bowlers, and I feel as a bowling unit, we have to perform really well to become champions,” he said.

The senior all-rounder also talked about his own form as he has not been at his best in recent times. Shadad admitted he has been going through a rough patch and asserted that the rest after Asia Cup helped him mentally.

“My form has not been good recently, but I got a lot of rest [after the Asia Cup]. You do get mentally down after playing a lot of cricket and not performing. Obviously, the skills are there, but the much-needed rest has helped me get over the mental barrier. The past is past now,” he added.

The Pakistan cricket team debut further backed under-fire Fakhar Zaman as he has been facing the heat for his below-par show in the recent series including Asia Cup.

“Fakhar Zaman is a big player. He is impactful player, not that consistent, but highly impactful. When he performs the team wins. He already has 3 tons this year in winning cause. We have no doubts about him. We wanted to give him mental space. We’ll always support him,” he concluded.