Coming into the pre-match press conference ahead of the India-Pakistan game on June 09, at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, India captain Rohit Sharma addressed the experience of Virat Kohli will be enough for him to adjust to the condition, having enough practice under his belt, for the Pakistan clash.
India is coming into this blockbuster game against the arch-rival, on the back of their dominating performance in all three departments of the game, against Ireland, where they easily chased down the score of 98 runs with eight wickets in hand, and almost eight overs to spare. Captain Rohit Sharma managed to celebrate a half-century, before leaving the field with a slight arm injury.
In their bowling department, the inaugural champions of the tournament looked quite prepared in all aspects of the game. The likes of left-arm pace of Arshdeep Singh picked up early wickets at the start of the game, while Jasprit Bumrah made life quite tough for the Ireland batters.
‘Look, I don’t rely on one individual to win us the game’ – Rohit Sharma
On the flip of the coin, Pakistan are coming after their heart-breaking defeat against co-host United States of America, who were comparative in the maiden meeting of the two sides at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas. Their bowlers bowled in the right line and length to ask so many questions to the Pakistan bowlers, as their captain Babar Azam struggled so much.
The wicket-keeper batter Azam Khan is under so much pressure after a string of low scores, and especially after his first-ball duck in the previous game. Shadab Khan’s bowling too is under the scanner, while Haris Rauf was thumped around the ground in the game.
There were also questions on how bad Babar and the team management were in their tactical decisions in the middle, along with deciding their batting order.
However, these things haven’t really changed the way India was going to prepare, as their captain Rohit Sharma has admitted to going with the same intense against Pakistan.
“Playing good cricket holds the key. When you come across conditions like this you expect that you will make best decision. Our approach will be same as last game,” Rohit Sharma said during the pre-match press conference.
The track which will be used for the game is the same that was used between the Netherlands and South Africa, where 209 runs were scored for 15 wickets in 38.5 overs. The India captain feels that their team has the experience of playing on these sorts of surfaces.
“(For The) pitch we will deal with. Part of international challenges. Remember what kind of pitch we faced in Gabba where we took body blows,” the veteran stated. “Nothing can get bigger than the World Cup and whatever blow you take on the body is nothing.”
Virat Kohli came to New York late on May 31, which ruled him out of their warm-up fixture against Bangladesh, and even during their first game of the competition, the batter could manage only one run in five balls. The question was on whether Kohli had enough practice going into this intense game against Pakistan.
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“Look, I don’t rely on one individual to win us the game. Virat has enough training under his belt. Kind of experience he has, nothing can beat that,” the 37-year-old remarked.
Even though Pakistan have been inconsistent in the last few games, Rohit Sharma sheds light on how interesting this format could be, giving an example of how the neighbouring team reached the final in 2022, even after losing to Zimbabwe.
‘In T20. What matters is how you play on that day. It changes quickly. Remember they reached the final after losing to Zimbabwe in 2022,” the Mumbai-born star batter concluded.
India will aim to get their seventh victory in the history of the T20 World Cups against Pakistan.