"Always An Extra Added Pressure": Pakistan Great's Grim Reminder To India On Playing World Cup At Home

All the cricket fans around the world are eagerly waiting for the 2023 ODI World Cup, which will be held in October in India. The 10-team tournament will kick start from October 5 with England taking on New Zealand in the first match. The Rohit Sharma-led side, who will aim to end their decade-long ICC trophy drought, will be opening their campaign against Australia on October 8. As all the teams are preparing for the marquee event, former Pakistan pacer Wasim Akram has come up with a warming for Team India.

Akram stated that despite having a strong team, the 2011 champions will always be under pressure of being the host nation.

"Of course… India have Mohammed Shami, who is very impressive and is bowling like a dream, but Bumrah needs to remain fit. I don't know what his situation is in terms of fitness but if he is fine, it will make a huge different. Besides, they have really good spinners and all-rounders – Jadeja, Ashwin – let's see who plays," said Akram on Radio Haanji.

"There have been some really good players coming from India but there are certain disadvantages of home ground. In 2011, India won but there is always an extra added pressure. Same with Pakistan. If they were the hosts, the pressure would be on them. Vice-versa," he added.

The mouth-watering clash between the arch-rivals India and Pakistan was initially planned to be on October 15 in Ahmedabad. However, as the match is coinciding with the first day of Navratri, there are speculations that the match schedule might get changed.

"See, I said this earlier as well. If I am asked to play on a certain date and at a certain venue, I have to play. Be it Ahmedabad, or Chennai, or Kolkata, or Mumbai… this does not affect players. So just play and don't worry