India captain Rohit Sharma has opened up about the upcoming India vs Pakistan match and acknowledged that the fixture will be a ‘high-pressure game’. Sharma also revealed that he and the coach Rahul Dravid are continuously clarifying to the players that it is just another game and are trying to keep the noise around the Pakistan clash down in the dressing room.
“Everyone watches the game especially India vs Pakistan. Without a doubt, it is a high-pressure game but within the group, we want to create a normal atmosphere and don't want to hype this game within ourselves. For us, it is just a game of cricket. It is important for me and Rahul bhai to tell the players that it's just another opposition,” he said.
Similarly, in a recent media interaction, Sharma expressed that their team has undergone a lot of change and will take a different approach in preparation for the upcoming tournaments. While speaking to the media on Wednesday, Sharma said, “Asia Cup is happening after a long time, but we played Pakistan last year in Dubai, where obviously the result did not go our way.”
“But the Asia Cup is different now. The team is playing differently and has prepared differently, so a lot of things have changed from then. But for us, we need to assess the conditions, keep in mind the fact that we will be playing in 40-plus degrees. We need to assess all those factors and prepare accordingly.”.
Rohit then gave examples from their recent tours to West Indies and England where they focused on implementing their gameplan without focusing on the opponent. “My thought has always been that we will not focus on the opponent, but we will continue to play our game. We played against West Indies, England and in both cases, we did not think about who our opposition was, but we focused on things that we had to do as a team and what we had to achieve. Similarly, in the Asia Cup, our focus will be on what to achieve as a team and not think about who we are facing – be it Pakistan, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka,” he said.
