Birmingham, June 14: Even though the result would only be of academic interest, Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni today termed their face-off with arch-rivals Pakistan in the ICC Champions Trophy an “important” game but said that his team would not take any added pressure.
“I think it’s an important match. To have a look at it is very important. Doesn’t matter which side you are really playing, because the reason is all international sides are good enough, so no real point taking any added pressure,” Dhoni said on the eve of the match.
“So anything you can avoid as a team, especially the fact we’re talking about pressure, we should look to do that,” he added.
While admitting all India-Pakistan matches were big games, Dhoni said it would be suicidal to take extra pressure.
“All international sides are good and packed with good fast bowlers. Pakistan also have good spinners in (Saeed) Ajmal and (Mohammed) Hafeez. We will not change our approach,” he said.
Dhoni also showed off India’s batting muscle ahead of the eagerly-awaited match, saying they “don’t need 100-plus opening stands” every time.
“We don’t need 100-plus opening stands every time we go out to bat,” he said.
“Well, I think we are a side that relies quite a bit on a good start. It doesn’t really mean that we always need hundred and partnership. We need some time, the openers need to spend some time in the middle, and that really comes from the dressing room.
“That has been the case whenever we have got off to a good start; more often than not we have been able to capitalise on that fact,” he added.
India have been getting flying starts by their openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma in their first two matches. (PTI)
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