Former India captain and currently India A and U-19 coach Rahul Dravid feels India’s biggest threat in the ongoing Asia Cup at UAE is Afghanistan and not Pakistan.
India mauled Pakistan in the group stage by 8 wickets after bowling them out for a paltry 162 in 43.1 overs. The victory with 126 balls to spare was their biggest against Pakistan in terms of balls remaining. Despite such a resounding win, the expectations of an India-Pakistan final on September 28 has only grown with Sunday’s Super 4 encounter them being treated as a prelude to the final.
Away from the India-Pakistan hullaballoo, Afghanistan, the newest ICC full member, have indeed played like one. And Dravid believes they have the potential to upset India too.
"Afghanistan is doing well, I don't know why we are only focusing on Pakistan. Look their performance, Afghanistan are also a force to reckon with,” said Dravid.
Dravid urged the Rohit Sharma-led Indian side to focus on other teams rather than pondering too much about Pakistan. "If I was in the team I would not just be focusing on Pakistan. We are playing very good white ball cricket but we have to be careful of other teams too," Dravid said.
Afghanistan won their two group matches comfortably. They first sent five-time champions Sri Lanka packing by registering a 91-run win and then rolled over Bangladesh last night to finish on top of Group B. Though the standings don’t matter as all teams will have to play each other in the Super 4 stage but Afghanistan have by far looked the best team of the tournament so far.
India will meet Afghanistan on September 25 at the DubInternationalnal Stadium and according to Dravid that has all the ingredients to be an exciting encounter.