Lead bowler for Team India, Jasprit Bumrah, has said that there won’t be any extra preparations made for their crucial match against Pakistan on Saturday, October 14, at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium. He said that the squad will not overthink the competition, but rather concentrate on its own capabilities.
In their previous encounter in the 2022 T20 World Cup in Melbourne, the match was a close one, with the Men in Blue winning off the last ball. Both Asian teams have won their first two games and will enter Saturday’s match.
Following India’s eight-wicket victory over Afghanistan in Delhi, Bumrah was asked how the Men in Blue will prepare for the major battle against archrivals Pakistan. Trying to diminish the hoopla, he said:
“See, every team will have batsmen, every team will have bowlers. We also have batsmen; we also have bowlers. We’re not preparing any special for any special team. Yes, we’re looking at ourselves more than the others because we’ve realized that if we focus on our team, we focus on our strengths, everything else takes care of itself. So, we are focusing on our team, our preparation.
“If everything that is there in our control, we control that, that gives us the best chance. So that is what our team is focusing on,”
Jasprit Bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah was a standout with the ball in the triumph over Afghanistan, tallying 4/39.
Jasprit Bumrah Says India Focused on Winning, Not Net Run Rate, Against Afghanistan
After restricting Afghanistan to 272/8 thanks to Bumrah’s four-fer, Team India surged past the mark in 35 overs with eight wickets in hand. Rohit Sharma blasted 131 off 84 balls, including 16 fours and five sixes. When asked if India intentionally batted aggressively, Bumrah said that this was not the case. He replied:
“No, no, not at all. We were not looking at net run rate from the beginning and we did not know that Rohit will give us such a head start. So, obviously I don’t think there was any conversation this early in the tournament. But yeah, really happy with the way the game went and we finished it off early as well.”
Jasprit Bumrah
Rohit and Ishan Kishan (47 off 47) contributed 156 for the first wicket, while Virat Kohli (55* off 56) and Shreyas Iyer (25* off 23) completed the innings.