Unlike the contrasting starts made by the Indian and Pakistan teams to their respective ICC Champions Trophy 2025 campaigns, Rohit Sharma’s men have successfully begun the campaign for the title, overwhelming Bangladesh with a six-wicket rout. The defending champions, on the other hand, suffered a 60-run defeat at the hands of New Zealand.
Now they meet in what shapes up as a blockbuster clash considering their historic rivalry. Though Pakistan has a better head-to-head record against India in ODIs, in recent times it has been the Indian team that looks competitive.
The last time Pakistan triumphed over India in an ODI was at the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy. Since then, India has beaten them in five out of six meetings, of which one ended without a result.
Former India allrounder Irfan Pathan believes India has the edge in the India-Pakistan contests since the visitors have “plenty of problems,” with some experienced players unable to adapt to playing the “aggressive brand” of modern-day cricket.
“When it comes to Pakistan, look, they have plenty of problems in the team,” Pathan told PTI Videos on Friday. “For some of the senior guys in the team, it is difficult to play aggressive modern-day cricket, especially when it comes to white-ball cricket. They can’t change overnight-and that is very difficult.”
“But then again, it is not about the weakness or strengths; it is all about the India-Pakistan occasion. Whichever team handles the occasion well will win.”
Pathan feels that the Indian team is more equipped in dealing pressure situations and has far more talented ODI players than Pakistan.
“What we have seen in the recent past with the Indian team, we know how to handle a tough situation and the big occasion as well. As far as the talent is concerned, we are far ahead, especially in one-day cricket,” he said.
Pathan drew attention to the pool of all-rounders in India, with Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, and Washington Sundar being on the Indian roster.
“We (India) have good all-round abilities in the team as well. Axar (Patel) is picking up wickets and we have a lot of options as well. Hopefully that momentum will be carried,” he said.
“Shubman (Gill) is in tremendous form and once Rohit (Sharma) and Virat (Kohli) keep scoring runs consistently, this team will be unstoppable,” he added.
