Agarkar testifies “very good” relations between India, Pak cricketers in his time
March 27th, 2011 - 4:14 pm ICT by ANIKolkata, Mar 27(ANI): Although the much-awaited Indo-Pak semi-final World Cup clash on March 30 is being touted as the ‘mother of all matches’ and an equivalent to war, former Indian all-rounder Ajit Agarkar has testified that the relationship between both teams is “very good” and without any animosity.
Agarkar, a veteran of many Indo-Pak encounters, said the relationship between the Pakistani and Indian players is “very good - most players get along.”
“I’ve not seen any animosity between players in my time. There is definitely some needle, an extra edge to the games between them, but that is usually caused by the people around the games as opposed to by the players”, PakPassion.net quoted him, as saying.
In Agarkar’s view, India’s tough quarterfinal win over Australia would help them cope with the pressure of the semi-final. India were somewhat struggling when captain Mahinder Singh Dhoni got out, with the score at 187/5, chasing a target of 261.
“The pressure could have affected India against Australia, yet they responded very well - obviously, the Pakistan game offers a little more than an ordinary game but the fact is also that Australia hadn’t lost a game for the last three cups until that game with Pakistan and also they have been world champions for a while - India responded well under pressure that day”, he stated.
Therefore, Agarkar feels that India’s performance against Australia should hold them in good stead in the crucial winner-takes-all encounter on Wednesday in Mohali.
“I think the Indian team came out well from the quarter-final, and even though Pakistan is a big game, they will cope better based on the performance against Australia”, he maintained.
Whilst India were among the favourites even before the start of the 2011 World Cup, Pakistan were not rated as highly by many at that point of time.
However, their exemplary performances during the tournament have made observers sit up and take notice of Pakistan, which is now an important contender for the World Cup trophy.
“This also makes the Semi Final more mouth-watering, as both teams have started to reach reasonable form - you can’t really ask for more, except that I wish that it was the World Cup Final, but a semi-final is good enough - people have been waiting for this game”, said Agarkar. (ANI)
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