‘Whether or Not You Win the World Cup, Have To Defeat Pakistan’ Shikhar Dhawan

[MenInG]

The video featuring Shikhar Dhawan, the Indian opener, discussing the upcoming 2023 Asia Cup has been taken down by the broadcaster from their social media handles.

This is what he said in it:

“It has always been the case of 'Whether or not you win the World Cup, don't lose to Pakistan' (laughs). But winning the World Cup is also important and by god's grace hopefully we will. There's definitely excitement (while playing Pakistan) but also a lot of pressure. There's definitely a satisfying feeling playing against them when the match ends. Whenever I have played Pakistan, we have won mostly. The intensity on the field is also high, but there's also some light chat with them.” he said.

 

[MenInG]

Think those looking to downplay rivalry between the 2 teams need to read this.

 

[Savak]

Dhawan has posted anti Pakistan content on his twitter before.

 

[shariqnoor]

India under Dhoni and Kohli had developed this mindset that Pakistan is no more relevant. They wanted to just win the tournament. And that mentality kept them in good stead over the past decade when it came to matches with Pakistan.

However, now I see that Indian players are much more involved in the rivalry with Pakistan and Pakistan is slowly creeping up to India. With Kohli and Sharma retiring in the next 4-5 years, the tide could turn and Pakistan may start having a dominant hand over the Indian team in the future.

 

[Hextro]

For me, the match against India doesn't matter nearly as much as winning the cup.

World Cup > any match against Ind

It's a no-brainer.

 

[Firebat]

We will meet in the semi final or final, all roads lead to India vs Pakistan to decide the WC IMO, as horrible as it will be for us fans.

 

[Banda298]

India under Dhoni and Kohli had developed this mindset that Pakistan is no more relevant. They wanted to just win the tournament. And that mentality kept them in good stead over the past decade when it came to matches with Pakistan.

However, now I see that Indian players are much more involved in the rivalry with Pakistan and Pakistan is slowly creeping up to India. With Kohli and Sharma retiring in the next 4-5 years, the tide could turn and Pakistan may start having a dominant hand over the Indian team in the future.

Retiring in 4- 5 years ? A qf or semi final exit , or string of low scores and may see either Rohit or Kohli being sidelined from t20s /odis post this world cup or at most 2024 wc . Fit Kohli is still in better nick with scores more than 50 than fat Rohit, so may stick around for few more years given his form.

Or even if Kohli scores 400 plus at a slow rate , India gets to final or wins and even then Rohit doesnt score , like Dhoni he will get an extension to his career. But not beyond a year or two at most



Also sponsor money is a big thing keeping the big cats going. The likes of Gaikwad, Sky , Iyer, Sarfaraz have suffered due to rahul, rahane , rohit , kohli hogging slots and underscoring over last few years in tests , odis .