{"id":40333,"date":"2026-02-14T18:04:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T18:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=40333"},"modified":"2026-02-14T18:04:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T18:04:25","slug":"suryakumar-says-pak-india-t20-world-cup-clash-not-just-another-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=40333","title":{"rendered":"Suryakumar says Pak-India T20 World Cup clash \u2018not just another game\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>India captain Suryakumar Yadav admitted on Saturday that no matter how much his team tried to prepare for Sunday\u2019s T20 World Cup clash against Pakistan as \u201cjust another game\u201d, it would be much more than that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a big platform, obviously,\u201d Suryakumar told reporters in Colombo, venue for Sunday\u2019s massive Group A showdown.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo matter how much you say that it\u2019s just another game, it is a big game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The biggest and most lucrative clash in world cricket has sold out the 35,000-capacity R Premadasa stadium, with hundreds of millions more expected to watch on television.<\/p>\n<p>The game was only confirmed as going ahead late on Monday night after the government reversed its decision to boycott the blockbuster Group A game.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t play them often, don\u2019t even play them regularly,\u201d said the Indian skipper.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut at the end of the day, we try to keep things simple and try to execute our best game.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is pressure, but there is a big opportunity,\u201d said Suryakumar.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAccording to me, when you play an India-Pakistan game, it\u2019s more about the occasion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read More: Pakistan, India brace for high-stakes clash<\/p>\n<p>The Indian captain would not say whether his players would shake hands after snubbing the Pakistan team in three Asia Cup meetings in Dubai last year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI will break the suspense tomorrow,\u201d he said. \u201cWait for 24 hours, let us play the game which is more important.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>India achieved a hard-fought 29-run win against the United States in the first match of their title defence in Mumbai a week ago, before crushing Namibia by 93 runs in Delhi on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>But Suryakuma played down the hype around Pakistan spinner Usman Tariq and his unique sling-arm bowling action that has an exaggerated pause in the delivery stride.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have practised with similar types of bowlers and similar actions, so we will try to execute what we are practising in the night sessions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Suryakumar said dashing opener Abhishek Sharma has recovered well from a stomach bug and was likely to play.<\/p>\n<p>Both Pakistan and India have won their opening two Group A matches and the winners will qualify for the Super Eight Stage.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>India captain Suryakumar Yadav admitted on Saturday that no matter how much his team tried to prepare for Sunday\u2019s T20 World Cup clash against Pakistan as \u201cjust another game\u201d, it would be much more than that. \u201cIt\u2019s a big platform, obviously,\u201d Suryakumar told reporters in Colombo, venue for Sunday\u2019s massive Group A showdown. \u201cNo matter [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40333\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}