Veteran Bengal pacer Dinda bid adieu to all forms of cricket on February 2.
Former India cricketer Ashoke Dinda, who announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on Tuesday (February 2), talked about the experience of facing Pakistan in international cricket.
Dinda has played 13 ODI matches for India. He was part of the squad when Pakistan last toured to India in 2012-13. The speedster played two ODIs and T20Is each in the limited-overs series against the arch-rivals.
"Players from both nations catch up with each other after the match. But while on the field, they act as if they don’t know their compatriots. This is one thing which I really liked about India-Pakistan contests," he told SportsKeeda.
The 36-year-old said the fiery contest between the two nations used to give him a feel of going to war. Both the teams remained highly motivated to defeat each other.
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"It was a different experience. Since childhood, I have seen India-Pakistan matches as really feisty and competitive encounters. And here, I have played quite a few matches against Pakistan.
"It is a different experience, different ball game altogether, different one-on-one contests, going into India-Pakistan matches feel like going to war. No team wants to lose, hence a different motivation seeps into the entire squad."
Dinda had shared the dressing room with few Pakistan players during the Indian Premier League's inaugural season. He revealed about his good relationship with the players like Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi.
"I have many friends from the Pakistan team. Mohammad Hafeez knows me really well, we are good friends. Players who played for the Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2008 like Salman Butt, Umar Gul, Shoaib Akhtar, everybody knows me. In fact, while playing for India, I used to interact with Shahid Afridi as well,” he added.
(With Sportskeeda Inputs)