India and Pakistan are all set renew their rivalry in the ODI format on September 2 in the upcoming Asia Cup. Unless Nepal beat one of the two teams, the arch-rivals will meet again on September 10 in the Super Fours round of the tournament. Moreover, they are also scheduled to lock horns on October 14 in the ODI World Cup at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
The atmosphere in an IND vs PAK game is brilliant at the stadium with fans from both countries providing a massive support to their favourite teams. Former India captain Virat Kohli also accepts the fact that the fans' excitement is beyond huge when the two countries face each other. But he also explains that for a player it is important to treat it like any other game in order to not get buoyed by the occasion.
"I wouldn't run away from the fact that the atmosphere on the outside is very, very different from other games. It's what created on the outside that you can't really ignore. As a player when you step on to the field it's any other game for you. The environment on the outside can pull you in. That's for you to enjoy and get excited about. Then it's usual business," Kohli said while speaking on Star Sports.
For the unversed, when it comes to handling pressure situations, Virat Kohli is almost the best man having played arguably the best innings of his life last year in the T20 World Cup against Pakistan. He scored an unbeaten 82* to take the team home from a precarious situation of 31/4 in the last-over thriller.
Meanwhile, former BCCI President Sourav Ganguly is also looking forward to the marquee clash this year with Pakistan coming up as a strong contender under Babar Azam's leadership. He also highlighted that the fact in the last few years, IND vs PAK clashes didn't live up to the hype with the Men in Blue winning the matches one-sided.
"There is a lot of hype in this match but the quality has not been that good for a long time because India kept on winning one-sided. Pakistan probably defeated India for the first time in the T20 World Cup in Dubai," Ganguly said.
