Dubai: India will take on arch-rivals Pakistan in a much-awaited T20 World Cup Super 12 clash in Dubai on Sunday. This will be the first match for both teams in the T20 World Cup. And while India have never lost against Pakistan in a World Cup match, India skipper Virat Kohli is not taking things lightly.
Pakistan are certainly not a team to be taken lightly. The Babar Azam led side has quite a few match-winners in the squad who can completely overturn the course of the game on their day. Speaking a day ahead of the marquee event, said that Pakistan have many game-changers in their team and India will need to convey their ‘A game’ to get the higher of them.
“We never think about past, we never think we won all World Cup matches. Pakistan always a strong team and you have to play your best cricket against them every time. They have players who are game-changers. We definitely have to bring our A game against Pakistan to beat them,” Kohli said in the pre-match virtual press conference.
There was a lot of speculations going on ever since Virat Kohli announced leaving the T20 captaincy post T20 World Cup. While there is still debate going around for his decision, skipper Kohli said that he is not ready to add fuel to fire.
“I have already explained myself a lot and I don’t think I need to harp on that anymore. Our focus is to play well in this World Cup and do what we need to do as a team. Rest people are trying to dig up things that don’t exist and I am not someone who is ever going to give fodder to that. I have explained myself very honestly and openly and if people feel there’s more to it that what I have already told, I feel pretty bad for them. That’s certainly not the case.” he added.
Going into the match, India are still sweating on star all-rounder Hardik Pandya’s fitness. The 28-year-old played for the Mumbai Indians in the recently-concluded Indian Premier League (IPL), where he picked up an injury and has not bowled since. Hardik’s current inability to bowl has raised many questions about his place in the playing XI.
Talking about Hardik Pandya, Kohli said he “He is not fully fit right now but he is getting better. I feel Hardik presently is getting better in terms of being prepared to bowl two overs for us. Till the time he starts bowling, we have created a few options for ourselves. What he offers at number 6 as a batter, we can’t create something like that overnight,” said the Indian captain.
Kohli too said that they have kept ‘other options’ ready till Hardik starts to bowl. Kohli himself had bowled a couple of overs in India’s second warm-up match against Australia.
“We have considered a couple of other options to chip in with overs so we are not bothered about that all.”
Asked about the playing-11 he stated it will not going to announce yet, but India is fully prepared for the marquee encounter.
“We have spoken about our combinations, however not going to disclose them right now. We’re assured by way of execution.” he concluded.
