Virat Kohli had said he's taking India-Pakistan clash as just another game.
Former Pakistan cricketer Sohail Tanvir believes India's skipper Virat Kohli will be under a lot of pressure ahead of the important clash against Pakistan in the 2021 T20 World Cup. Kohli had played down the hype around the match against arch-rivals, saying it's "just another match for us".
"I have just approached this game as another game of cricket and I know there is a lot of hype around this game, more so with ticket sales and demands of tickets," Kohli had said.
Tanvir doesn't agree with Kohli's statement and he said the India captain is trying to distract himself from the pressure before the match.
"It's a big match. India vs Pakistan is always a high-voltage game which adds to the hype of the tournament. There's definitely pressure on the players, whether they admit it or not -- both, as an individual and as a team," Sohail Tanvir said on Geo TV.
"There's a burden of expectations and India, on paper, are a better team and so they will have that added pressure. Virat Kohli, with his statements in the press conference, is trying to distract himself from that pressure but he must be feeling it nonetheless," he added.
The Indian captain Kohli had earlier said that one needs to be professional and play the game in the right spirit as they would do with every match.
"Apart from that, I don't think we can make anything extra out of this game and for us it's a game of cricket that has to be played in the right spirit, in the way we know we can," he said.
"Yes, the environment you can say is different from the outside and from fans' point of view, definitely more excitement in the air but from a players' point of view, we try to stay as professional as we can and always approach the game in the most normal way possible," Kohli had added.
(With GEO TV Inputs)