India may have an overall edge in ICC contests, but Pakistan has slowly turned the tide
India may have an overall edge in ICC contests, but Pakistan has slowly turned the tide
Finally, there was a buzz as the stage is set for October 23, 2022’s contest between India and Pakistan. Split by the Radcliffe Line and hamstrung by the absence of bilateral fixtures, the sub-continental neighbours have found their cricketing jousts being restricted to ICC events or continental tournaments like the Asia Cup. Over the last year, the rivals have faced-off thrice — once during the 2021 T20 World Cup and twice in the recent Asia Cup.
India may have an overall edge in ICC contests, but Pakistan has slowly turned the tide, winning a hyped encounter last year and equally will take heart from the 1-1 result in the recent Asia Cup. Rohit Sharma leads a team that should correct a historical vacuum: India last won an ICC tournament — the Champions Trophy — in 2013.
The Men in Blue step in without two stars — Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja. Even if the injured duo will be missed, the squad has the past to lean on for the feel-good vibe. Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly skipped the inaugural 2007 edition and M.S. Dhoni led a young team to a cup-triumph. Even this current outfit has many players who, in Test whites, have humbled the Aussies in their backyard.
We have not won ICC trophy for 9 years, says Rohit
Pressure is constant in anyone’s life and Rohit Sharma would prefer calling it a challenge when India face Pakistan in a World Cup game or try to exorcise the ghost of not winning an ICC silverware for nine years.
The last ICC tournament that India had won was the 2013 Champions Trophy and it was at a nascent stage as far as Rohit’s opening stint in international cricket was concerned.
“Yeah, look, I don’t want to use the word pressure because pressure is constant. It’s not going to change ever. I would like to take this as a challenge. I want to use that word challenge a little more. This Pakistani team is a very challenging team. All the Pakistani teams that I’ve played from 2007 until 2022, they’ve been a good team,” said the India skipper, now wanting to engage in unnecessary war of words.
But there was no running away from the fact that India haven’t won any major trophy since 2013.
“Okay, nine years we have not won the ICC trophy and things like that. Of course, it’s there in the back of our players’ mind, but it’s important to just keep that away and just focus on the job at hand at the moment,” Rohit said.
“My personal belief is that if you think too much of the past, I think you won’t be able to focus on the present. So, it’s important to focus on the present.” Rohit also opined that India play so little cricket with Pakistan, he doesn’t exactly have a reference point about the mindset of the opponents led by Babar Azam.
“Luckily for us, we got to play them in Asia Cup twice, otherwise we don’t play them at all. So it’s very hard to gauge what sort of mindset they play with, and for those two games that we played in Asia Cup,” he added.
India will open their T20 World Cup campaign in a much-anticipated clash against arch-rivals Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, here on Sunday.
Like his predecessors Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli, Rohit didn’t sound different when he said that the team that plays well on the day will win.
“You’ve just got to be coming on that particular day with very well-prepared thinking how you’re going to beat that opposition and try and keep it simple really, not think about so many things because it can only add pressure, or it can confuse you a little bit,” he said.
“The more you keep things simpler, easier for you to go and get the job done. That is what our focus has been and constant talk about how we can just relax ourselves a little bit,” he signed off.
