DUBAI
\nFormer Pakistan all-rounder Mudassar Nazar insists his country will once again be the kings of Asian cricket despite India\u2019s rise as world beaters on the back of the riches of the IPL.
\nPakistan were kings of the sub-continent from the mid-1980s to 1990s with their on-field brilliance under Imran Khan, who led them to the 1992 World Cup, before India turned the tables.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t think Pakistan has changed. It is India who have changed,\u201d Nazar told AFP ahead of the eagerly-awaited India-Pakistan clash at the Twenty20 World Cup in Dubai on Sunday.
\n\u201cWith the advent of the IPL they have used the money really, really well. If you look at the domestic competition in India, look at all the associations, how well they are organising their cricket.
\nHe added: \u201cEverybody has got their own stadium, their own academies, school cricket, state cricket. Cricket is thriving in India.
\n\u201cBut the people who have been consistently doing well have been England and Australia…India is in the forefront and among the three best sides in the world.\u201d
\nStarting in 2008, a year after the inaugural T20 World Cup, the IPL ushered in a new era of white-ball cricket that witnessed the game break new ground in viewership and fan base.
\nThe IPL emerged as the world\u00b4s richest T20 league with its brand value estimated at $6.7 billion in 2019 by the Duff and Phelps financial consultancy.
\nAt the same time, Pakistan was becoming a no-go zone for international cricket following the 2009 terror attack on the visiting Sri Lanka team.
\n\u201cThe BCCI have been very clever in how they used the IPL money. Indian cricket was powerful before that but since then it has seen a lot of consistency,\u201d said Nazar.
\n\u201cThey have got all the areas covered. You talk about fast bowling, you talk about spinners, fielding, the physical side, it\u2019s a powerhouse. They seem to be getting top class batsmen every season. At the moment they are looking very formidable.\u201d
\n\u2018Tables will turn\u2019
\nBut Nazar remains hopeful that the Pakistan Super League (PSL) \u2014 the nation\u2019s premier T20 tournament \u2014 and new management will revive the game.
\n\u201cIt is also a matter of cycles. One decade we could be better than the rest of the world and then somebody else catches up,\u201d said Nazar, who played 76 Tests between 1976 and 1989 with a batting average of over 38.
\nHe also sees a bright future under new PCB chairman Ramiz Raja. \u201cThings have started to improve with the PSL, but it will take time. It took time for India to revive.\u201d
\n\u201cThere is no club cricket and there is hardly any state cricket, so that\u00b4s a stumbling block.
\n\u201cBut now with the new management coming in, Ramiz is a former cricketer and I think he will shape things better, put us on the right path and in the next couple of years probably we will be as strong as we used to be.\u201d
\nPakistan once had a far better head-to-head record against India who played catch up with their arch-rivals from 2000 onwards.
\nNazar, who had been part of that strong Pakistan set-up, said the national team will someday turn a corner and notch up their first win against India in a World Cup.
\n\u201cWhen we were playing we always had the edge and towards the end of my career we won most games against India than we lost,\u201d said the 65-year-old Nazar.
\n\u201cIt needs somebody to come up with some brilliance. Somebody has a damn good game. Somebody has a decent century and bowls a decent spell and all of a sudden the tables will turn.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DUBAI Former Pakistan all-rounder Mudassar Nazar insists his country will once again be the kings of Asian cricket despite India\u2019s rise as world beaters on the back of the riches of the IPL. Pakistan were kings of the sub-continent from the mid-1980s to 1990s with their on-field brilliance under Imran Khan, who led them to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222772,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[20],"class_list":{"0":"post-222758","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-pakistan"},"yoast_head":"\n