India start their Asia Cup 20222 campaign on Sunday with a high-octane clash against arch-rivals Pakistan in the Group A match which will be played at the Dubai International Stadium. Considering the past between the two nations, an India-Pakistan cricket match is always the talk of the town. Fans are eagerly waiting to witness the mega clash and all the eyes will be fixed on who wins the contest, but players look at the match through a different prism.
Indian players including captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya and others have reacted to the upcoming game in a video uploaded on Twitter by the BCCI.
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Captain Rohit has as always played down the occasion and stated that the focus of his team will be on the bigger goals.
“First game on 28th, we will try and be in present. Preparation wise, we have not been short. We are not looking at the opposition at all, what we need to achieve as a group is more important than the opposition we play. It is going to be a challenging one so we have to be up for it,” Rohit said.
Reacting to the upcoming match, Kohli said: “As I have said many times in the past when you step onto the field it is any other game for you. Just the environment on the outside can pull you in but that’s for you to enjoy and get excited about till the time you get to the park and then it’s usual business.”
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“It is a great opportunity for us to play 2-3 games, challenge ourselves. Pakistan have been a really good team over the past few years. They have played some excellent cricket, it is a high-pressure game and it will always be that,” India vice-captain KL Rahul added.
Pant and Hardik said while there always be noise around an India-Pakistan match, the players focus on giving their best.
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“There is an interesting environment and the match is hyped quite a bit. As a player, we try to give our 100 percent because there’s a lot of pressure and expectations,” said Pant.
“Hype is there outside, a lot of people have emotions attached to the game and we all understand that. For us, we have to make sure that we keep the outside noise outside and we focus on things we really need to,” Hardik said.
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