India Were “Outplayed” By “Really Strong” Pakistan In 2021 T20 World Cup: KL Rahul

India will take on arch-rivals Pakistan in their first Asia Cup match on Sunday at the Dubai International Stadium.

This will be the first time the two sides meet since Pakistan romped to a 10-wicket win over India at the same venue at the 2021 T20 World Cup. India vice-captain KL Rahul, speaking at a press conference on Friday, said that the defeat to Pakistan last year had hurt the team and admitted that India were “outplayed” in the match.

“Yes, obviously. Losing any game in a World Cup always hurts you a little bit. It was our first game of the World Cup last year and we were very excited. Any team that enters the World Cup wants to start well, but unfortunately, that did not happen for us,” Rahul said.

“We were outplayed against a really strong Pakistan team,” he said.

Rahul went on to say that the team is eager to go out there and face Pakistan again and added that whatever history the two teams have will not matter much when they take to the field.

“Yes we get an opportunity to once again play against them, it is a contest we are all looking forward to and we all are eager to go out there. The game starts from zero, there might be history but it does not count for anything. It will always start from zero,” Rahul said.

Apart from India and Pakistan, the other team in Group A in the group stage is Hong Kong, who emerged triumphant in the qualifiers earlier this week.