When Suryakumar Yadav and company play the Men in Green in match No. 2 of the Super-Four stage of the 2025 Asia Cup on Sunday, September 21, at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, the former India wicketkeeper cautioned them not to get comfortable. Despite having a few talented players in their ranks, Deep Dasgupta believed that Pakistan had not played good cricket in the previous two years.
In last week’s group-stage match in Dubai, India defeated Pakistan by a commanding seven wickets. To advance to the Super Four, Salman Agha’s team had to defeat the UAE in a game that was literally life or death. Pakistan is going to try to get even with their bitter rivals on Sunday and put pressure on them to make it to the finals.
Pakistan hasn’t produced quality cricket in a few years. Although they have talented players on their own, they haven’t clicked as a team. Before Sunday’s match, India Today cited Dasgupta as saying, “They’re always dangerous, and in this format, you can’t take anyone lightly.”
“There’s still a clear difference in quality between India and Pakistan at the moment, but Pakistan remains a dangerous side,” he stated.
Dasgupta believes that before Pakistan meets the Indian spin pair of Varun Chakaravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav, they will need to provide stronger preparations. When facing Kuldeep and Varun in the previous encounter, the Pakistani batsmen were clueless, according to the cricketer-turned-commentator.
“They simply didn’t know how to handle Kuldeep and Varun. They’ll be more prepared this time, I’m sure. “Hopefully, the cricket pitch will make the headlines rather than the other way around,” Dasgupta said.
I still firmly believe in Shubman Gill: Dasgupta
So far in the Asia Cup, the Punjab batsman has failed to live up to his reputation. He has only scored 35 runs at an average of 17.50 in three innings. After playing excellent cricket at the recent Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy in England, Dasgupta asked supporters to give him a little more time to get into T20 gear.
Prior to the Asia Cup, Shubman Gill was named India’s vice-captain for the Twenty20 Internationals.
“This format (T20) is high-risk and high-reward. In order to succeed in red-ball cricket, Gill has made a few technical changes. But it takes time to go back to T20s. There is no denying that he is excellent. All he needs to do is return to his former self. “I still believe in him a lot,” Dasgupta remarked.
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