- Rohit Sharma and Babar Azam say they talk about cars and families when they play each other.
- Bad political relationship between India and Pakistan has put cricket on hold.
- The two teams met at the recent Asia Cup in the United Arab Emirates, and got along well.
India and Pakistan are bitter neighbors. Rohit Sharma and Babar Azam, the captains of the two teams, said on Saturday that when they play each other, they talk about their families and cars to calm down the hype.
Due to their bad political relationship, cricket between the two biggest rivals has been put on hold, and when the two teams meet in tournaments, emotions run high on both sides of the border.
The big match between the two former champions on Oct. 23 in Melbourne is already building up a lot of buzz, but India captain Rohit tried to play down the hype around one of cricket’s biggest rivalries.
“We know how important the game is, but there’s no point in talking about it all the time and putting that kind of pressure on yourself,” the batsman told the media before the tournament.
Fans see every game between India and Pakistan as a battle to see who is better, but the teams got along well at the recent Asia Cup in the United Arab Emirates.
Rohit and his teammates were seen wishing Shaheen Afridi a speedy recovery from a knee injury, while the Pakistani speedster wished for Virat Kohli to get back to his best.
“When we met at the Asia Cup and now here, we talked about how things are back home and how our families are doing,” Rohit said.
“The previous generation of cricketers told us they too used to chat about these things — ‘how’s life? Which car are you buying, or planning to buy?'”.
Babar confirmed that the two teams were friendly off the field, even though they were fighting hard on it.
“When we meet, we don’t even talk about cricket,” the stylish opener said.
“Rohit is older than me. Since he has worked for India for so long, I try to learn from him whenever we meet.
“It’s always good to learn from someone’s experience.”
The feel-good mood notwithstanding, Babar was fully aware of the importance of the match.
“Any match against India is always a high-intensity contest,” said the 28-year-old.
“Fans also wait for them. On the field, we enjoy it a lot and give our 100 percent.”
[embedpost slug=”pak-vs-ind-pakistan-penalized-for-not-completing-overs-in-time/”]
