Babar Azam says Pakistan have the edge over India in Asia Cup clash

Pakistan captain Babar Azam says his team hold the upper hand heading into the Asia Cup match against arch rivals India in Colombo on Sunday.

Azam and his side opened the Super Four stage of the tournament with a comprehensive win over Bangladesh in Lahore and will back their chances against India at the R Premadasa Stadium.

The South Asian neighbours earlier met in the group stage but the match in Kandy was washed out in the second innings after India recovered from early strikes by Pakistan's quicks to score 266.

Pakistan's quicks continued their good form with Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf all among the wickets. That, and the fact Pakistan have been playing in Sri Lanka for around two months, fills Azam with confidence.

"In a way, we have an edge [over India] because we have played back-to back-cricket, here and in Pakistan. We have been in Sri Lanka for two months. We played the Test series, Afghanistan series, LPL [Lanka Premier League] and now the Asia Cup," the top order batsman said on the eve of the match.

With so much cricket and travel, owing to the strange schedule of the tournament that saw Pakistan go back and forth between home and Sri Lanka due to India's reluctance to play their matches in Pakistan, player fatigue is an issue. However the captain said they have been well taken care of.

"We have been playing continuously. So apart from training, we need to look after players as there are back-to-back games and travel. We knew this was going to happen, so we have looked after players accordingly," he said.

KL Rahul has returned to the Indian team and trained in Colombo. AFP

What has helped keep the morale of Pakistan up is their pace attack, which has blossomed into the most devastating in