'A rivalry bigger than the Ashes'

 Pointing out that people on either side of India-Pakistan border look at a cricket match between the two countries as border rivalry, Ravichandran Ashwin termed the match-up between the arch-rivals bigger than the Ashes.

“This rivalry is huge,” Ashwin said to a pointed question. “It’s very hard to put a finger and say how huge it is. It’s probably bigger than the Ashes is. As far as the Indians go and the Pakistanis go, I don’t think they watch this as a game of cricket. It’s more of a border rivalry; they want to get one up on each other. So there is much more to this game rather than the game itself taking centre-stage. As far as people are concerned, they put their emotions into it. For the players, it’s about trying to keep the emotions aside and playing the game the best we can,” he explained.

Pakistan coach Waqar Younis asked the people to see it just as a sport while feeling proud of the rivalry all the same.

“Our rivalry is definitely there,” he began. “There is a history between Pakistan and India, not only culturally but also there is a cricket history given how we have played each other for 50 years. It’s always a treat to watch for the world, not only the sub-continent. No other game is watched as much as this one, we should all cherish that and we should all feel proud about it,” he remarked.

Ashwin though played down the pressure on players whenever they play Pakistan. “I don’t think we really see a lot of pressure in this game,” he stressed. “We are used to playing a lot of India games. Every game that India plays is a pressure game as you can see (with) the amount of people (present) here (at the press conference). We are pretty much used to it. I think we should be able to handle it. More than who we are playing against, it’s the T20 World Cup and we have almost put ourselves in a position where we have to win every game from here. I think that’s more important,” he offered.

Waqar, meanwhile, hoped Pakistan will change history so far as India-Pakistan matched are concerned. Pakistan are yet beat India in a World Cup in several attempts.

“History can change, too,” he said. “We are confident, a little more this time because they (India) can go out of the tournament also (if they lose). That also is a plus for us. They will be under a lot of pressure. We have to take it positively. We have won the last match, so there are lot of things going in our favour, hopefully. Yes, there is no doubt that our history hasn’t been so good but history can always be changed.”