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The sell-out match, among the most-watched events in global sport, will be played at R Premadasa Stadium under lights, and is the first time the teams face each other since India won the Asia Cup final last September in Dubai. While India won all three matches against Pakistan in that tournament, the cricket was pushed to the background after the BCCI, on the eve of the tournament, instructed Suryakumar Yadav’s team not to shake hands with Pakistan’s players. The controversy deepened when India declined to step onto the field to receive the trophy, as it was scheduled to be presented by Mohsin Naqvi, the PCB chairman and president of the Asian Cricket Council, who is also a minister in the Pakistan government.
“The game should be played in that spirit of cricket,” Aghas said on Saturday. “What I expect doesn’t matter. But I do feel the game should be played in the way it has been played since cricket started. Rest is upto them [India], whatever they want to do.”
The line between politics and cricket blurred yet again a week before the T20 World Cup began, when the Pakistan government announced a boycott of the February 15 match against India, only to reverse the decision after intense negotiations between the ICC and the PCB. With cricket once again taking center stage, Agha said he expected both teams to uphold the spirit of sportsmanship.
Agha was asked if Pakistan would shake hands if India were ready to. The Pakistan captain smiled and, without exactly disclosing what his team would do, said, “We will find out tomorrow.”
Agha acknowledged the magnitude of an India-Pakistan clash and said Sunday would be no exception, with thousands of fans from both countries expected to pack the stadium despite an uncertain weather forecast. “Bilkul [definitely], this game, its magnitude has always been bigger and will continue to be bigger. Tomorrow, too, the magnitude of the game will be bigger.”
Pakistan have beaten India just once in the history of the T20 World Cup, achieving the feat in the 2021 edition. Agha, meanwhile, has lost all three matches he has captained against India. He said his team would focus on the learnings from the previous defeats. “We don’t have a good record against them in World Cups. But each time you play a new match, it is a new day and you have to play good cricket to win. You can’t change history, but you can learn from it. And we have learned things and we will try and put up a good performance and win.”
Agha also disagreed with the perception that Pakistan held a slight advantage due to being housed in Colombo throughout the World Cup, unlike India, who travel to multiple venues across the tournament. “We are based in Colombo and playing all our matches here, but I don’t know how that is an advantage. On the ground, you have to play good cricket, you will need to execute plans otherwise you can’t win. Just because you are based here that doesn’t mean you will win the match.”
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