Pakistan game too far away to think about: Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Colombo: A clash between India and Pakistan is always a ‘high intensity’ game and full of pressure according senior pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar. He is currently with the India A side in Sri Lanka. However, Bhuvneshwar Kumar asserted that even though the T20 World Cup draw has been announced, the Indian players will not think about it. This is because there is still a long time to go before the T20 World Cup starts. He also asserted that the Indian players will as of now, not think about the Pakistan game.

“Look, it is always exciting to play against Pakistan and it is always a pressure match. So it is of course going to be a high intensity match,” Bhuvneshwar said Friday at a virtual press conference here.

“But to be honest we haven’t really thought about it, how it is going to be. This is because there is a lot of cricket still to be played before the Pakistan game. We have got matches in Sri Lanka, of course Test matches in England and then IPL and then World Cup,” pointed out Bhuvneshwar. “But once of course the IPL gets over, we will start thinking about that (World Cup),” added the 31-year-old Bhuvneshwar.

Former India opener Gautam Gambhir has been part of many India-Pakistan games in his career. He said senior players such as skipper Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will play a big role in the marquee clash.

“…It is the responsibility of the senior guys to probably keep the younger guys calm. This is because ultimately it’s not the emotion that will win you a game of cricket. It is the contest between the bat and the ball that will end up winning you a game of cricket,” Gambhir said during a TV interaction. “So people like Virat for example, or Rohit will have a huge responsibility when Indian take on Pakistan,” he added.

Gambhir said India should get rid of its obsession with wins at 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 ODI World Cup. “It was special (being a part of the 2007 T20 World Cup squad), but I have forgotten about it,” said the former Delhi batsman. Incidentally in both the T20 final in 2007 and the 2011 World Cum summit clash Gambhir was the top scorer for India. He scored 75 against Pakistan in 2007 and 97 against Sri Lanka four years later.

“To be honest, India needs to move on from that. 2007, it’s what, more than 13 years ago. I think we need to get rid of this obsession of 2007 and 2011,” Gambhir pointed out.

The T20 World Cup was originally scheduled to be held in India but was moved out of the country due to an expected third wave of the coronavirus.