India may have an overall lead in ICC competitions, but Pakistan has slowly turned the tide
India may have an overall lead in ICC competitions, but Pakistan has slowly turned the tide
Finally, there was a discussion as the stage is set for the October 23, 2022 competition between India and Pakistan. Divided by the Radcliffe Line and affected by the absence of bilateral fixtures, the sub-continental neighbors have found their cricket restricted to ICC events or continental tournaments such as the Asia Cup. In the past year, the rivals have faced each other thrice – once during the 2021 T20 World Cup and twice in the recent Asia Cup.
India may have an overall lead in ICC competitions, but Pakistan have slowly turned the tide, winning a hyped encounter last year and also winning hearts with a 1-1 result in the recent Asia Cup. Rohit Sharma leads a team that must fix a historic void: India last won an ICC tournament – the Champions Trophy – in 2013.
The Men in Blue steps in without two stars – Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja. Even if the injured pair will be missed, the team will have a feel-good vibe to vouch for. Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly skipped the inaugural 2007 edition and MS Dhoni propelled a young team to the Cup-Triumph. Even in this current outfit, there are many players who, in Test whites, have knocked the Aussies down in their backyards.
We haven’t won ICC trophy for 9 years: Rohit
Pressure is constant in one’s life and Rohit Sharma would love to call it a challenge when India face Pakistan in a World Cup game or try to exorcise the ghost of not winning ICC silverware for nine years.
The last ICC tournament that India won was the 2013 Champions Trophy and as far as Rohit’s early stint in international cricket was concerned, it was at an early stage.
“Yeah, look, I don’t want to use the word pressure because the pressure is constant. It’s never going to change. I want to take it as a challenge. I want to use that word challenge a little more. This Pakistani The team is a very challenging team. All the Pakistani teams I have played in from 2007 to 2022 have been a good team,” said the India captain, now wanting to engage in unnecessary warfare.
But there was no escaping the fact that India have not won a major trophy since 2013.
“Well, for nine years we haven’t won ICC trophies and things like that. Of course, it is in the minds of our players, but it is important to keep it away and focus on the task at hand for the time being,” said Rohit.
“My personal belief is that if you think about the past too much, I think you won’t be able to focus on the present. Therefore, it’s important to focus on the present.” Rohit also said that while India plays very little cricket with Pakistan, they have no reference point about the mindset of the Babar Azam-led opponents.
“Luckily for us, we got to play him twice in the Asia Cup, otherwise we don’t play him at all. So it is very difficult to find out what kind of mindset they play with and for those two matches that we played in the Asia Cup.”
India will begin their T20 World Cup campaign in the much-awaited match against arch-rivals Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground here on Sunday.
Like his predecessors Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli, Rohit said no different when he said that the team which plays well in the day will win.
“You have to come on that particular day with a very well thought out thinking about how you are going to defeat that opposition and try and keep it really simple, don’t think about so many things because it can only add pressure. or it might confuse you a bit,” he said.
“The more you keep things simple, the easier it will be for you to go and get things done. That has been our focus and we have been constantly talking about how we can give ourselves some rest,” he signed off.