Ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, former India head coach Ravi Shastri on Wednesday opened up on the rivalry between India and Pakistan and also provided insights on head coach Gautam Gambhir’s remarks, as per the ICC. Gambhir recently said the importance of the Champions Trophy group stage fixture against Pakistan was the same as every other fixture at the event, with all games at the tournament of equal value. Speaking to host Sanjana Ganesan on the latest edition of The ICC Review, Shastri stated that while he had spoken of the fixture in the same light back when he was head coach, there’s more to it.
“I was the coach for seven years. Whenever I was asked, I said the same thing (as Gambhir). But let me assure you, deep down, there’s a lot more to that than you actually think, that’s for the media. You have to say it. But deep down, you want to win that. Because if you don’t, you’ll be reminded of it until the next time you play against Pakistan,” Shastri said as quoted by the ICC official website.
“People don’t care what you have done in the past. They’re not bothered about the last 10 games if you won eight or you won nine. But they’ll remind you if you lose one, until the next time you play them. It can be a taxi driver, it could be anyone on the street. What happened to India? The same question to Pakistan. What happened to Pakistan? So it always plays on your mind, so whether you like it or not, it’s a different game. Different beasts altogether,” the former cricketer added.
India and Pakistan, slotted in Group A of the Champions Trophy, are set to face-off on February 23 in Dubai.
The two teams had previously locked horns at the venue in an ICC tournament in 2021, when Pakistan registered a mammoth 10-wicket win.
Shastri, however, believes that the throwback won’t be taking up much headspace for Indian players.
“No, that won’t play on their mind because that was a T20 game. This is a 50-over clash. It’s totally different. It’s a longer game which suits India more, because in T20 you can get upset. In 50-over cricket, if you’ve got experience and you’ve got depth in your batting and bowling departments and you know, it makes a massive, massive difference. when you look at India and Pakistan man to man, India is a far better side and far more experienced as well,” Shastri said.
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