Former India opener, Gautam Gambhir believed that playing against Pakistan in an early stage of the T20 World Cup will help the Indian team to focus on the remaining tournament.
The international body said on Tuesday, that India and Pakistan will play together in the ICC T20 World Cup on 24th October in a group-stage encounter.
Gautam said that it will help the Indian team as they can then focus on the remaining matches of the tournament. Speaking on a television show, Gautam emphasized the importance of India clashing with Pakistan in the initial stages of the game.
He said, “In 2007 as well, when we went on to win the World Cup, our first game was against Scotland, which was washed out, but then practically, our first game was against Pakistan. And that is exactly what I mentioned, it is important to play Pakistan in the early stages of the tournament because what happens is you don’t want to keep thinking about Pakistan you can finish it off initially and concentrate on the entire tournament, and it is exactly the same for the fans and the country as well.”
He added, “Irrespective of what the result is, I am really happy for both the countries that they are going to play against each other in the initial stages.”
The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 in the United Arab Emirates and Oman will get in action from 17th October, with the final to be played in Dubai on 14th November.
The tournament will be started with the Round 1 Group B encounter between hosts Oman and Papua New Guinea on 17th October, with Scotland and Bangladesh, the other teams in Group B, clashing in the late afternoon match.
Sri Lanka, Ireland, Namibia, and Netherlands making up Group A will be in action in Abu Dhabi the next day, with Round 1 matches running till 22nd October. The top two teams of each group will move to the Super 12 stage of the game, beginning on 23rd October.
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