This column of former India player Suresh Raina has been made available by ICC.
My experience in matches against Pakistan has been that he always played with a heart. The two teams met in the group stage for the first time in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in 2007, when India won the ball-out. When India and Pakistan play, it is always exciting and good for the fans to watch.
Millions of people tune in and expect entertainment and they never disappoint. This was true from the start in the T20 World Cup and then they met in the final of the first tournament, which India won by five runs.
I was in the matches of 2014 and 2016. If you ask me as a player, it was always a high pressure game. In the build-up, everyone is telling you how big it is.
You need to make sure you calm yourself down, focus on the process and play good 40-over cricket. It’s about handling the pressure and enjoying the game, if you can.
This is what India has always done over the years and tried to go out and do good for its country. This year, it will be exciting as both Virat Kohli and Babar Azam are great leaders and knowing how important the game is, both the teams will have equal enthusiasm on the show. You know the captain will set an example on that front and the same passion spills over to the rest of the team.
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You will be surprised to hear the amount STAR Sports is getting for 10 seconds advertisement in INDIA-PAK match
Babar is one of the leading T20I batsmen in the world. Like Virat Kohli, he is an example of how good batting and good captaincy go hand in hand.
The good thing from the Indian point of view is that there is a strong line-up of experienced players with Virat as the team leaders with Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja. Thanks to the IPL, our team has a lot of experience playing in the UAE and dealing with the conditions there.
On the other hand, the fact that Babar has senior players like Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez will help them as this is still the first major tournament in which he is captaining the side.
It is going to be a good match between Virat on one side and Babar on the other. They are both really competitive people who know what a rivalry is.
Fans have enjoyed this match for years and it is the best of cricket. This opportunity now came to the generations after Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Sourav Ganguly, Inzamam-ul-Haq, MS Dhoni and now we have Kohli and Babar. It’s a great legacy and I hope we get another game to remember.