Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri has spoken about the importance of the India-Pakistan rivalry and addressed head coach Gautam Gambhir‘s remark on the highly intense clash between arch-rivals in the Champions Trophy 2025.
Previously, Gambhir has downplayed the significance of IND vs PAK fixture stating that all matches in the tournament hold equal importance.
Speaking to host Sanjana Ganesan on the latest edition of the ICC review, Shastri stated that he had spoken of the fixture in the same light back when he was head coach.
“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 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.”
Despite Gambhir’s comments on India-Pakistan clashes, Shastri and Ponting reveal the real ‘edge’ behind high-stakes cricket rivalries 👀
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“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.
Placed in Group A, India and Pakistan are set to clash in the group stage matches on February 23 at Dubai. The two teams has previously locked horns at the venue in an ICC tournament in 2021, where Pakistan secured a 10 wicket win.
However, Shastri 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,” Ravi Shastri said.
Meanwhile Australia captain Ricky Ponting has also doubled on Shastri’s comments, stating that the build-up to an IND vs PAK clash is very different from any other game. Ponting stressed that there was certainly more edge to IND-PAK games tah others in international cricket.
“No, there’s more to it. There’s more edge to these games. And we’ll actually see it firsthand because the build-up in the week leading up to those games will be different than it is to any other game that they play,” Ponting told The ICC Review.
“So when India plays New Zealand, the build-up for that game won’t be anywhere near as it is when India plays Pakistan,” concluded Ricky Ponting.
