Faced with an “intimidating atmosphere”, Indian captain Virat Kohli Thursday promised the marquee World Cup clash with Pakistan will bring the best out of his players.
Kohli was speaking after the game between India and NewZealand was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
“It’s been competitive for years, it’s a marquee eventall over the world, honour to be a part of the big game. Brings out the best inall of us,” Kohli said of the June 16 face-off at Old Trafford.
“For Sunday, we know we’re there when it comes to themindset. Just about going out there and having a game plan, executing it,”he said after the washout against New Zealand.
Like in previous editions of the showpiece, the upcomingIndia-Pakistan match has also generated a lot of buzz, with fans of both teamseagerly awaiting the start of the game.
“As soon as you enter the field, it’s calm and relaxed.The atmosphere from the outside, for the first time, it’s a bit intimidating,but we’ll look to execute well.”Talking about Shikhar Dhawan, who has suffered athumb injury, Kohli said, “Shikhar will be in a plaster for a couple ofweeks, we’ll assess and see. Hopefully, he’ll be available for the later halfand the semi-finals. He’s motivated, we wanted to keep him back.”