Pakistan will not repeat same mistakes against India: Wahab Riaz

Former Pakistan fast bowler Wahab Riaz is confident that his former team will not repeat the same mistakes that cost them the match against New Zealand ahead of the crunch match against India on Sunday.

Speaking to the reporters on Saturday, the now-retired pace bowler reckoned that the Pakistan team led by Mohammad Rizwan has the skills to bounce back in the ICC Champions Trophy tournament. A loss against India will all but rule out host Pakistan of the semi-final race.

“Being cautious (in the last match) was good, but one has to play to the situation. Obviously, there are two new balls which will swing and you can lose wickets but one has to calculate and build an innings. You need a good start in the first ten overs and then the middle order can take it forward from there. They missed a trick in the last match, but I do not think they will repeat it in the match against India,” JioHotstar expert Wahab said while talking ahead of the big clash.

Riaz did dwell on the fact that injuries and lack of consistency have been an issue for the team.

“…We have not been very consistent (with his format) and we have not played many ODIs recently. We have played more T20s and injuries are a reality. Fakhar Zaman was ill earlier and he got a side strain in the first match. Saim Ayub got ruled out before the tournament due to an injury. It does affect the team combination but they have included Imad ul Haq and Kamran Ghulam. We will have to see how the team management uses them,” he added.

While Wahab did not pick India as favourites on Sunday stating that his team can still make a comeback, former India international and now commentator Sanjay Manjrekar picked India as the overwhelming favourites.

“I was not impressed with them in their last game. Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf did not do much and without Fakhar Zaman, it will be difficult. While India had a good game and they are coming into this tournament with a series win over England, so Pakistan has to raise their game significantly to have a chance,” Manjrekar said.

He said it would be difficult to perform against India as Pakistan know they are an inferior team.

“(Onus) it is more on Pakistan. I do not want to bring them down but it is tough to go in a match against a superior team. We kept losing to the Pakistan team in the 80s and 90s as they were far superior. It is something similar with this Pakistan team. They have to compete and beat India. It is not easy as you know deep down which is the superior team. It was the same mindset we had when we were getting beat,” he added.