All-rounder Axar Patel said that a cricket match between India and bitter opponent Pakistan carries an additional degree of pressure, but he claimed the players attempt to maintain composure by avoiding external discussions regarding the ferocity of the long-standing rivalry.
India advanced to the Super Eight stage of the ICC T20 World Cup on Sunday night after defeating Pakistan by 61 runs at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo in the latest episode of the showdown between the two teams.
“Yes, there is pressure. People around you or your family or friends talk to you about it. So, yes, there is a little more pressure than a normal match. As professional cricketers, we just focus on controlling our emotions. We don’t think too much about the rivalry or put extra pressure on ourselves because of it. We are seeing them as a team. So, we are not thinking about these rivalries etc. We are just focusing on cricket. So, whenever I am playing, I treat it as one match against an opponent,” PTI quoted Axar as saying in the post-match press conference.
India reached a challenging 175/7 riding on an incredible 40-ball 77 from Ishan Kishan, who was praised by Axar for his game-changing performance.
“Yeah, obviously the way he batted, I think one of the great knocks, because it was not so easy, the ball was spinning, some were going straight under light, so it was not easy. It’s just that the form he has had in domestic cricket, he has carried it forward to the New Zealand series and then in the last match also he scored 50.
“So, when your confidence is high you don’t think much about yourself or the wicket. Obviously, there is confidence also and a lot of skill also. He has not hit all his shots in one place, he has played shots all over, over the cover, slip, so he used the field well. So I think credit goes to him,” he added.
The match was advertised as a contest between the spinners of Pakistan and the batters of Men in Blue, but India’s overwhelming victory did not live up to the hype.
According to Axar, the team was not concentrating on these topics.
“We are focusing on our strengths and it’s outside talk (India batting vs Pakistan spin). We are not thinking about that. We are just thinking about our plan and our execution when we are batting or bowling, we are just thinking about if we are bowling first or we are bowling second what we have to do? How the wicket was? All those things,” he said.
For the match against Pakistan, India decided to use spinner Kuldeep Yadav in instead of pacer Arshdeep Singh. Playing three spinners, according to Patel, was not a haphazard experiment but rather a pitch-based choice.
“Yes, about the three spinners, we feel that selection should be according to the pitch. And also, in such a big tournament, for a particular match, we should not make too many changes. And when you get help from the pitch, you will go for it. If your bowler gets your job done, then at such a time the batsmen are very important. So, this was the planning, and we made the team combination according to that,” Patel said.
