Gautam Gambhir column: Are Pakistan mentally strong enough to perform in front of 130,000 people?

The hyperbole is on the prowl once again. It wants us to believe that something rare is going to happen in Ahmedabad and we dare not miss it. I understand that India-Pakistan games are infrequent and what these contests mean to the P&L of the cricketing industry. But I don’t want to lose the bigger picture. The bigger picture is that winning today’s game is just another step which either of the teams can take to play the finals on November 19, 2023. Everything else is a treadmill on which sales and marketing teams are running to achieve their targets.

Sadly, there is always a geo-political context to an India-Pakistan game. Instead of the skills of the players, it is the history of the two nations that creates a forced background to the contest. I completely disapprove of that. It is not a war, no one dies if India lose.

If I compare the teams, India are clear favourites and should win today but it’s not the end of the world if they don’t. I am sure it is the same in Pakistan. They become overnight heroes or villains based on the result of the game against India. A Pakistani player from the 2005-06 team told me that he was dating a girl whose father disapproved of their relationship. But only after he had a good series against India was the alliance and marriage approved.

Pakistan are an unpredictable team and that is what makes them exciting to watch. Their unpredictability comes from their cricketing system which likes introducing ‘raw, unfinished’ products at the international stage. They seem to take pride in flair and natural talent rather than method and process. Therefore you don’t know what will that ‘raw, unfinished yet talented’ player deliver on a given day. The recent example being opening batsman Abdullah Shafique. He decided to live it large against Sri Lanka, giving us the highlight of the tournament so far. And this came while chasing 345 in his first World Cup outing and overall 9th List A game.

India is a more system-oriented outfit. We have persevered with talents like Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan and Kuldeep Yadav to now reap some astounding results. We are a much more balanced side compared to Pakistan. Their spin department is absolutely bare. It is foolish on their part to think that Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz and Iftikar Ahmed can spin teams like India out. I can’t imagine that a land which gave talents like Abdul Qadir and Saqlain Mushtaq have these three as spinners in their World Cup squad. Something is seriously wrong or missing in this spin equation. Compared to them, Ashwin, Jadeja and Kuldeep are absolute match-winners. Even in the pace department India have some platinum talent. Pakistan are only riding on the individual brilliance of Shaheen Shah Afridi. For me this battle is between Indian bowling and how mentally tough are Pakistani batsmen when they play in front of 1,30,000 strong crowd.

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