One of cricket’s greatest – and bitter – rivalries adds another chapter as India and Pakistan face off in a “massive” World Cup clash at the world’s biggest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad.
India skipper Rohit Sharma said the team remains confident going into the huge showdown between the arch rivals and confirmed teammate Shubman Gill is “99 per cent available to play” after the opener recovered from dengue fever.
The two powerhouses renew their rivalry on Saturday at the 132,000-seater Narendra Modi Stadium, named after the Indian Prime Minister.
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Favourites India have won their two opening matches of the 50-over showpiece event to get past five-time winners Australia and then Afghanistan.
Rohit said the team has momentum after they won the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka and then beat Australia in a three-match series.
“Rhythm is very important. If you look at it in other terms, it is called momentum,” Rohit told reporters on the eve of the hotly-anticipated match.
“We have played seven or eight matches in India and before that in Sri Lanka and here too we played two matches of the World Cup.”
He added: “The bowlers have shown very good performances. Whether it is spinners or seamers, whenever they have got a chance to put pressure on the batsmen, they have done so. All the batsmen have scored runs.”
Tournament favourites India beat Australia by six wickets and then hammered Afghanistan by eight wickets riding on Rohit’s record seventh World C2up century on Wednesday.
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India also enjoy an unbeaten record against Pakistan in seven World Cup meetings but Rohit doesn’t read too much into it.
“I am not a person who looks into all those kind of stats. We’ve got to play good cricket on that particular day to win the game and that is what we will be focusing on,” said Rohit.
“And how we are going to play good cricket, which is understanding the conditions, what is required from the team’s perspective and things like that.”
With Pakistan fans still awaiting visas to travel to India, the huge stadium is expecting a capacity home crowd for the key contest.
Rohit, who had earlier spoken about shutting out the outside noise for the big game, said the team’s focus remains on playing a quality opposition.
“Like I said many times before, in the context of it, yes, it’s a massive game. But for us, what is important is, we are playing an opposition tomorrow, which will be quality,” he said.
“So, we’ve just got to come against a quality opposition and play good cricket, which we’ve done in the last two games. And hopefully we can again show some consistency in our performance.” India crushed Pakistan by 228 runs in the Asia Cup Super Four contest – their last ODI meeting – in Colombo last month.
But Rohit said there will be no “psychological advantage” against a side who have also won their first two matches in the World Cup.
“As I said, we should not pay too much attention to what is already over,” he said.
“We should pay attention to the fresh day, the fresh opposition. Both the teams will start evenly. I don’t think there is a favourite or an underdog.”
The match gets underway at 7.30pm (AEST).
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