'He is the dangerman' - Mudassar Nazar warns Pakistan to be cautious against Rohit Sharma in T20 World Cup

Former Pakistan batter Mudassar Nassar feels that more than Virat Kohli, Pakistan needs to be wary of “dangerman” Rohit Sharma in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2021. Both India and Pakistan start their campaign on October 24 against each other.

Nazar also said that even though India are ahead of Pakistan in terms of overall strength, Pakistan did manage to outsmart them in the Champions Trophy final in 2017, defeating them by a massive margin of 180 runs to lift the trophy.

“If you look at it strength-wise, they (India) are ahead of us. But if you look back at Champions Trophy, Pakistan won it. There too they had lost the first match against India but on the day Pakistan beat them in the final. This time around, if they can beat India, they would gain a lot of momentum,” Nazar told Cricket Pakistan.

India dominates Pakistan in ICC events, with their record reading an impeccable 7-0 in the 50-over World Cup, while the story remains the same in the shorter format, where India leads the head-to-head 5-0.

More than Kohli, Rohit Sharma is the dangerman: Mudassar Nazar

Speaking about India’s batting performance, Nazar said that Kohli’s performance has come down in the recent past. Notably, the Indian skipper last scored a century in any format in 2019, when he notched up a ton against Bangladesh in the day-night Test in Kolkata.

“In T20Is, even if a batsman plays a cameo or a bowler picks up a few quick wickets, it makes a world of difference. If you look at India’s performance in the recently-concluded Test series against England, no one was really outstanding. Even Virat Kohli, who once scored heaps of runs, since the last 2-3 years, hasn’t scored a century. He used to score hundreds after hundreds but his performance has come down a little too. In fact, more than Kohli, Rohit Sharma is the dangerman,” Nazar pointed out.

The last these two teams met was June 16, 2019 in the ODI World Cup, although political tensions between the two nations has meant that India-Pakistan rivalry has been only reduced to a rivalry in ICC events.