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T20 World Cup: ‘We Will Consider it as Any Other Game’ – Pakistan Wicketkeeper Mohammed Rizwan Ahead of India Game
Ind vs Pak, T20 World Cup: Rizwan said that the hype is being created by the fans and that taking additional pressure for this game won't do the team any good.
10 October 2021 • 9:05 AM
Dubai: A couple of weeks ahead of the blockbuster India versus Pakistan clash at the T20 World Cup, wicketkeeper-batter Mohammed Rizwan claimed that they would look to ‘treat it like any other match’. Rizwan reckons that will help them cope with the extra pressure of the game.
While addressing a press conference, the star gloveman said that the hype is being created by the fans and that taking additional pressure for this game won’t do the team any good.
“This India-Pakistan match, we will consider it like any other game. The hype is being created by the social media and fans which is fine but in our hearts and minds, we will consider this game the same as one against any other side. Because, if we as players take on the additional pressure of this game, then that won’t be good as it has happened before,” he said.
It is arguably the biggest cricket game of the calendar year. The arch-rivals last met at the 2019 World Cup where the Virat Kohli-led side won the match. Pakistan has never defeated India in a World Cup game and they would like to change that.
Rizwan also reckoned no team would have any kind of an advantage in the UAE. He rejected the idea of how people consider the UAE to be Pakistan’s home country as they play all their games there.
“I have never been a believer in the fact that any one side, including Pakistan, has any special advantage in UAE or anywhere else,” he said. “All we can say is that the tournament is being held in Asia as I consider UAE to be in Asia.”
“Yes, we have been playing there for a while and we used to say that UAE is our home ground but I never accepted that because the pitches there, from what I understood, were made with soil from Australia or from other parts of the world,” he added. “So, even if UAE was called our home ground, that was not the case.”