TimesofIndia.com in Dubai: There was pin drop silence at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium when the ground staff were busy with their last moment preparations on the playing square. The stands were as deserted as the roads leading to the venue and the buzz continued to be amiss during the Dubai leg of the Champions Trophy. Stakes, however, are high in the multi-nation tournament with India and Pakistan set to take the field on what promises to be an action-packed Sunday.
The only shade of blue would be in the middle as the capacity crowd would ensure the similar-coloured seats remain occupied. It’s a sell-out and re-selling activity is rife in the local Dubai groups with buyers ready to shell out as much as four times the face value. It’s India vs Pakistan after all and even if the competition is not what it used to be, pressure remains high as ever. The Men in Blue have had the upper hand in this format, as their last defeat to Pakistan came in the 2017 Champions Trophy final. Since then, they have won five games out of six with the exception being the washed out group game in the Asia Cup.
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Skill wise, the rivalry is heavily tilted towards India but pressure can do funny things, and continues to make this fixture the most sought-after property in cricket. And it was repeated multiple times when India vice-captain Shubman Gill and Pakistan head coach Aaqib Javed spoke with the media.
Gill, who is yet to make a substantial contribution with the bat against Pakistan, feels the team which handles pressure better will take the win but asserted that they’re treating this as just another fixture. It isn’t the first time we have heard a statement like this from the Indian corner but Gill’s relaxed body language did downplay the hype. When asked if this was the “biggest match”, the youngster chose to disagree.
“Firstly, I think it is a big match, but I think the biggest match would obviously be the final that the team plays. And definitely we have been playing some good ODI cricket and Pakistan unfortunately I think have lost some of the matches that they have played recently but by no means I think we are going to take them as a lesser side. I think they have got a good side and it is important for us to bring our A game tomorrow,” said Gill.
In the opposite corner, coach Aaqib Javed, who has featured in quite a few India-Pakistan games, said pressure makes the rivalry what it is. The former seamer strongly believes that both pressure and passion can bring the best out of a player.
“Right now, we are all guessing what will happen in this match. This is the beauty of it, what will happen. Nobody knows anything. So, in the same way, taking pressure is the job of the players. If you remove this pressure, what’s left in the Pakistan-India game? Passion and pressure is what is needed to show a player his performance,” said Aaqib.
The heat is on Pakistan and the bar of expectations was raised by the country’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif when he said that the real task for the team would be to not only win the Champions Trophy, but also beat India. The first part of the “real task” didn’t get off to an ideal start as the hosts lost their opening game to New Zealand. If they fail to complete the second part of the task – beat India – the hosts could well be on their way out of the tournament in just five days!
But pressure can do funny things and both sides are well aware of that. When the coin goes up for the toss and deafening cheers take over, the contest will certainly be decided by how the high pressure situations are dealt.
