Ahead of the ever-exciting cricket match between India and Pakistan on August 28, the Indian vice-captain said that the clash against arch-rivals will be a great opportunity for all players of the India team to challenge themselves at the start of their Asia Cup 2022 campaign. Both arch-rivalry teams will face each other on Sunday in the second match of the T20I tournament and the first match of group A.
KL Rahul, who had to stay away from the team due to injury in IPL 2022, and recently come back to the team is presenting India as vice-captain in the six-team mega T20 Championship.
For now, we are all very excited as players. We always look forward to this India vs Pakistan clash. It will be a good challenge for us to compete against a big team like Pakistan. As we all know there is a huge history and rivalry between India and Pakistan as these games are always been high intensity. It’s a great opportunity for us to challenge ourselves, said Rahul in a pre-match press conference.
KL Rahul
Yes, obviously losing any game and in the World Cup hurts. When you enter big tournaments, every team wants to play big and unfortunately, it did not happen with us. We were outplayed by really strong Pakistan. So now we get an opportunity to play once again against them, Rahul added while speaking over India’s defeat against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup in 2021 at the same venue where they will play again against their arch-rivals team.
KL Rahul
In the T20 World Cup 2021, Pakistan had defeated the Blue Jersey Team by 10 wickets at the same venue where both teams are scheduled to face each other on Sunday. The two neighboring teams have faced each other 15 times in the glorious 38 years of the Asia Cup. Out of these 15 matches, India have won 8 matches whereas Pakistan have become the winner only 5 times, and 2 matches ended without a clear result.
Team India is keen to register their eighth win over Pakistan, while Pakistan team are eying to repeat their last year’s performance.
We always look forward to the India-Pakistan clash as we don’t play each other anywhere else but in these big tournaments. As it’s the first game of the tournament for both of us, so we want to start our campaign on winning not, said the Indian vice-captain.
Indian vice-captain
Asia Cup 2022 is set to take place today, August 27, and will continue till September 11. The first match of the tournament will be played between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan in group B, while in group A, the first match will be played between India and Pakistan tomorrow, Sunday, August 28.
There are six teams in the Asia Cup this season- India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Hong Kong. The teams are divided into two groups-Group A and Group B. India, Pakistan, and Hong Kong are placed in group A, while Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan are in group B.
Here is the full matches schedule of Group A and B for Asia Cup-2022:
There will be three separate matches in Group A and B. In group A, the first match will be played between India and Pakistan. Thereafter, the second match of group A will be played between India and the Hong Kong, and the third group A match will be played Pakistan vs Hong Kong team as per schedule on September 2, while all three group B matches will be played as per below details.
Group A Schedule:
| Group Match | Date | Teams |
| 1st | 28 August | India vs Pakistan |
| 2nd | 31 August | India vs Hong Kong |
| 3rd | 2 September | Pakistan Hong Kong |
Group B Schedule:
| Group Match | Date | Teams |
| 1st | 27 August | Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan |
| 2nd | 30 August | Bangladesh vs Afghanistan |
| 3rd | 1 September | Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh |
Read also:Asia Cup 2022: Virat Kohli’s gladdening gesture after breaching security by a Pakistani fan for a ‘Selfie’
