Confident India prepared for Pakistan, might field same team: Sunil Gavaskar

India Today

Legendary India batter Sunil Gavaskar has said that India are confident of taking on any challenge from Pakistan ahead of the Super 4 fixture between the two teams in Dubai. Gavaskar also touched upon India's close victory against Oman and said that it was good that they got challenged early in the tournament.

Transcript

00:00Right then, we're coming to you live from Dubai. This is where all the action is. We're just a

00:04sleep away from India versus Pakistan round two. Joining me live as always, cricket analyst in

00:11Mr. Sunil Gavaskar. As you saw in that report that I've filed from here a short while ago,

00:16three big developments that have happened here in Dubai. One, Pakistan have cancelled their

00:21customary pre-match press conference that was to take place today. Secondly, they've hired a

00:26sports psychologist in Dr. Rahil Kareem to motivate the team ahead of that India Park encounter. And

00:33third, who's the match referee? Well, your guess is as good as mine. It is a certain Andy Pycroft

00:38that will once again be looking at this India-Pakistan encounter with me, Mr. Gavaskar.

00:44So, firstly, pre-match press conferences for us in the media is a norm. Pakistan has done it twice

00:52now. They cancelled the one ahead of UAE, ahead of the India game. What does this tell you sitting

00:56from the outside? Well, I don't know what the thinking behind that is. But as far as I know,

01:01I thought that was mandatory. That's correct. That it is. And then if the teams don't do it,

01:05I don't know if there's a penalty or whatever it is. But in today's day and age, where it's so

01:15important for the media also to be involved, to be kept informed with what's happening. Because

01:20cricket also mustn't forget that it has got competition from other sports. Maybe in the

01:25subcontinent, you know, it doesn't quite have the same competition. But you still have to be able

01:31to communicate to the media. And rather than as reported or according to reliable sources,

01:38it's always good to be able to, you know, convey your point of view. Maybe Pakistan feel that they

01:44don't have anything to convey. They have nothing to say, which is not surprising. And so they've

01:52decided not to have that. The point that you raised, Saiibhai, the Indian team also, now they've

01:58also had two high pressure games. I'm guessing it's as high pressure for India as for Pakistan.

02:02They've had the pre-match press conference for both games. Not as high pressure, but I'll tell

02:06it. I mean, like, okay, at least in terms of questions that can be thrown at the media. And I guess

02:10that's one of the reasons. Oh, that's pressure. Yes. So for India, they've had two press conferences

02:16last night and showed that there's a pre-match press conference today as well, which Surya Kumar

02:20Yadav has done. People can hear that. But I'm talking from Pakistan's point of view. Okay,

02:24it's not a one-off. They canceled the pre-match press conference ahead of the UAE game because

02:29there was a lot of pressure about that. Will it go ahead or not? We also had a scenario where

02:33a game had to be started an hour late according to the scheduled time because Pakistan didn't

02:37take the bus to the ground. My point is that these are now not one offense that you could

02:41just, you know, disregard. There have been multiple offenses that have happened three

02:45times in a row. In an ideal world, some sort of an action should be taken.

02:49Yeah, that's for the ACC, I would imagine. The ACC has to...

02:51Sorry to butt in, but how will the ACC take any action against Pakistan considering

02:55Mohsin Nakfi is the head of TCB. Mohsin Nakfi is the head of Asian Cricket Council.

03:00Well, yeah. So he's the number one over here. But there is another organization under him

03:06as well, which has got India, Sri Lanka and all the other teams that are playing plus those

03:12who are not playing. So that forms the Asian Cricket Council. And that will take a call

03:17whether there is now in this Asian Cricket Council there is a special governing committee

03:22for this tournament. I'm not aware of that. I think there's always a technical committee,

03:26you know, to rule about injuries and replacements and stuff like that. But, and I'm sure there

03:31will be a governing committee. I think the governing committee will probably want to know what's

03:35happening. See, for India, etc., it doesn't make a difference. For India, I'd say, well,

03:40you haven't come. So I don't think India is going to get involved in this kind of a thing.

03:44India does not need any distractions. Look, they don't need any distractions. They're going

03:49well. They're playing top class cricket. They don't want to get involved in that. So maybe it

03:55could be something where, in case there is something in the rule book saying that you

03:59have to be there. And if you're not there, maybe from the future onwards, and if you're

04:03not there, a point is deducted or something like that from your table might be the way

04:08forward.

04:10If I'm going to look at it from a cricketing point of view, I mentioned that Surakumar Yadav

04:14had a press conference yesterday. I don't think you've been able to hear it. I did. It

04:18was one of the most hilarious press conferences. He was asked about India, Pakistan, no handshake,

04:23everything. But he addressed every question, if I could say, in Rohit Sharma's time, very

04:27casually, just as he did at the toss also, where he forgot the name of which player.

04:32My point is, here you have an Indian captain who looked very relaxed, was sharing multiple

04:36jokes in the same press conference where tough questions were asked. And then here you have

04:40a Pakistan team which is trying to avoid a press conference, primarily because no tough

04:44questions are asked. What does it tell you from the outside before two teams take on the

04:48team?

04:49That India is relaxed. India is prepared for whatever is on the field tomorrow. So I don't

04:56think that's going to make much of a difference, like I said to the Indian team, that even if

05:01there was a press conference, even if Pakistan, whoever the Pakistan representative at the press

05:06conference was, whatever he would have said, I don't think it would have made a difference

05:10to the Indian team. Because the Indian team is at a level of confidence which is very,

05:17very high. Nothing will make a difference to this Indian team. Whatever is said in and around

05:24them by Indians, by Pakistanis, by Sri Lankas, Bangladeshis, nothing is going to affect this Indian

05:30team because they are so focused on winning this tournament.

05:34Okay. So as Mr. Gavaskar says, the Indian team quite focused. You talk about focused.

05:39So, clearly Indian team very relaxed. The other bit is, there is a certain Dr. Raheel Kareem

05:44who is a sports psychologist that Pakistan have gotten within their camp, apparently to give

05:48a motivational speech ahead of the India-Pakistan encounter. This is a question that I was asked

05:53on our digital platform when I was doing a live. Many people asked me when I gave them

05:56this news. They said, do you really need any more motivation if you are playing a team like

06:00India? What do you make of getting in another additional support staff? Is it because of

06:05what happened in the previous game? You need, you know, shoulders could be down. It was a

06:09one-sided encounter.

06:10I think whatever has happened in and around after that game, I think maybe that is the

06:16reason why they feel that, you know, they need somebody to come and maybe motivate them

06:21or get them focused on the job ahead tomorrow. We will only find out tomorrow whether that's

06:27been effective or not. At the end of the day, like, you know, like you said, playing against

06:33India or playing against Pakistan, it is not playing against, it is playing for your country

06:38that is the greatest motivation. Who you play does not matter. Yes, I think in terms of, you

06:44know, the competition the next day, if you're playing, say, a non-major team, if I might use

06:52that word with no disrespect, like a UAE or an Oman, the pressure might not be the same

06:58while if you're playing Sri Lanka or a Bangladesh or, you know, fellow sort of test playing nations,

07:05then it might be a different kind of pressure. But the pride and the honor of playing for your

07:11country is the greatest motivation. Yes, that's correct. As Mr. Gavaskar here was putting it,

07:16that the pride for playing for your country is, of course, primary. The other big headline,

07:21and, you know, headlines don't seem to stop, Andy Pycroft, the name that we have been talking

07:26about, I think this is the most anyone would have discussed Andy Pycroft after his retirement

07:30from international cricket, as it's happened in the last few days, is once again the match

07:35referee between India and Pakistan. That should make it an even more spicier contest.

07:39No, I don't think so. I think it will, his job will be just to be there at the toss.

07:46That's probably going to be his only interaction with the players. After that, he goes and sits

07:53in his room along with the TV umpire, with the DRS referral umpires, and he will be there.

07:59And he will obviously observe what's happening, and if any action has to be taken against somebody,

08:04if there is a complaint from the on-field umpire or whatever, he will have to deal with that.

08:10But I think once the toss is done, I don't think he comes into the picture at all.

08:14I'm going to look at now cricketing matters. The Indian team, ooh, many would say survived a little bit of a scare against...

08:20Yeah. No? No? What were your thoughts about the game?

08:22My thoughts...

08:23You think they were on a, sorry to, it's a horse racing analogy that I took, you know, you're galloping or canter.

08:27Some horses win on a canter where they really don't need to whip the horse, he wins.

08:30Would you say it was something like that?

08:32It was something like that, and I think it was a good thing that it happened because, you know,

08:35to have 40 overs on the ground was very, very important because India won the first game in 18 overs out of 40 overs.

08:42Then the second game also they won pretty comfortably. So they were not really stretched.

08:47So, yes, there was never any danger of them actually losing, but the fact that their bowlers were challenged,

08:54and, of course, they didn't have the two regular bowlers just with Bumrah and Chakravarti were not there.

08:59But the fact that they were challenged will mean that they will have, the bowlers will have had to think a little bit more.

09:06The bowlers would have had to, you know, bowl their four overs, etc.

09:09And so, therefore, everybody over there would have got a very good sweat out.

09:13I think such an important aspect of a sweat out. I would have obviously preferred, because you're playing,

09:18starting the Super 4, I would have preferred maybe another day's break tomorrow and then the match being played the day after.

09:25But obviously, you've got to take into account that it's a holiday tomorrow, big viewership, big people at the ground.

09:33Even at Abu Dhabi, for the India-Oman game, it was a sizable crowd.

09:37And it just tells you what India brings to the table.

09:39But people keep on talking about why India should get so much, etc.

09:43Look what India brings, apart from what India gives. That's another matter.

09:47But look what it brings also to the table.

09:50Okay. Finally, before we let you go, Zainabai.

09:52In terms of now that India made too many changes in the Oman game, you go back to that India-Pakistan 11?

09:57Or maybe is there a place for bringing another bowler because, you know, death overs, you're a bit expensive.

10:02With the new ball, you're not picking up too many vickets.

10:04Or you think, no, that was fine. Batting till No. 8 and your three spinners and one fast bowler and all-rounder in Harding.

10:11That's what I think they will look to do.

10:13Because even yesterday, Harshdeep and Harshit were taken for a few runs.

10:19So, I think they will probably also… they would want more overs under their belt, of course.

10:23And they didn't get that. So, clearly, I think they will certainly go with Jaspreet.

10:28And Ardik Pandya with the new ball. And then the spinners.

10:32And then the spinners.

10:33Okay. We'll leave it at that.

10:34Mr. Sunil Gavaskar coming to you live from Dubai.

10:37Of course, here's a reminder.

10:38We'll be building up to that India-Pakistan encounter on India today.

10:428 p.m. Sunday kickoff.

10:44We'll be live from 7 p.m. onwards building up to that game.

10:47Of course, post-match as well, we'll have Mr. Gavaskar analyze round two India-Pakistan for us.

10:53I'm afraid that's all the time that we have with him.

10:55But we still have a little bit more coming up on the show.

10:57Because India-Pakistan is the flavor at the moment in the eve of the game.

11:01There is an India-Pakistan connection with a local UAE team as well.

11:05All the members, 15 members of that squad are either from India or Pakistan.

11:10Indian origin, Pakistani origin.

11:12How is it that they are coping in the current political environment?

11:15I spoke to a few players, both from Pakistan or hailing from Pakistan and from India as well.

11:22And this is, they said, how they are tackling the current situation.

11:25Enjoy this.

11:26We'll see you again, as I said, 7 p.m. on India Today tomorrow.

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