The more you try to play it down, the more it is hyped. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni seems to have learnt about India-Pakistan clashes the hard way
The more you try to play it down, the more it is hyped. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni seems to have learnt about India-Pakistan clashes the hard way.
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| India skipper MS Dhoni tries to get past coach Gary Kirsten in a game of football during a training session in Mohali yesterday. pic/suresh kk |
The entire sub-continent has been abuzz about today's World Cup semi-final over the past week or so, but Dhoni says his team was not even aware that the two Prime Ministers would be watching the match together at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium.
"This is a cricket match. Somebody has to win or lose the game. Talking about the political scenario, we have neither watchedu00a0 television, nor read newspapers in the last 35 days. We are quite unaware. We are only focusing on our game," Dhoni said yesterday.
Of course, his words are not meant to be taken on face value. The skipper's point is that the players have put a barrier around them and fenced out the hype.
Dhoni explained: "If we get carried away by the hype and pressure of the match, then we would get distracted. Talking about it (Indo-Pak encounter) is not going to help us perform. You need to be kept away and be focussed on the game."
The semi-final is being touted as the 'Mother of all Matches', but for the players, Dhoni said, it was just another match. "It all depends on how you react to the hype. The hype is created by the media and the sponsors. The cricketers look at it as just another match. We expect to play good cricket in front of the distinguished guest, that's it," he said.
In the same breath, Dhoni said he didn't look at it as the biggest match of his career as captain.
"I don't believe in comparisons. For a cricketer, life is changing every time. Now you might feel this is the biggest match during my captaincy, then maybe three years later a bilateral series might become the biggest," he said.
