T20 World Cup 2021: 'Another game of cricket', Virat Kohli plays down hype of India-Pakistan encounter

Dubai: India captain Virat Kohli on Saturday played down the “hype” surrounding the high-profile upcoming T20 World Cup game against Pakistan, saying it’s “just another match for us” despite the ridiculously high demand for tickets. India have never lost to their arch-rivals in either ODI or T20 World Cup games and Pakistan skipper Babar Azam has said that they are confident of beating their neighbours on 24 October. Kohli however, when asked about the match, didn’t take the bait to make tall claims. “I honestly never felt so,” Kohli said when asked if it feels different whenever India meets its neighbouring country. [caption id=“attachment_9417671” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  File image of Virat Kohli. Sportzpics[/caption] “I have just approached this game as another game of cricket and I know there is a lot of hype around this game, more so with ticket sales and demands of tickets,” the Indian captain, who has had some great performances against Pakistan added. On a lighter note, Kohli said that he has refused a lot of friends who have asked for tickets. “… and right now, value of those tickets are ridiculously high and that’s all I know, my friends are demanding tickets right left and centre and I am saying, ’no’.” Kohli believes that one needs to be professional and play the game in the right spirit, like they would do with every match. “Apart from that, I don’t think we can make anything extra out of this game and for us it’s a game of cricket that has to be played in right spirit, in the way we know we can,” he said. “Yes, the environment you can say is different from outside and from fans’ point of view, definitely more excitement in the air but from a players’ point of view, we try to stay as professional as we can and always approach the game in the most normal way possible,” the Indian skipper said.