Be "emotionless" against Pakistan: Assistant coach Doeschate reveals Gambhir's message to India players

Dubai [UAE], September 13 (ANI): India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate assured that the players are aware of the people's sentiments about their much-debated fixture against arch-rival Pakistan at the Asia Cup on Sunday in Dubai. He spilt the beans about head coach Gautam Gambhir's message to the players, which focuses on keeping their emotions in check.

Public anger over India facing Pakistan in the tournament stems from the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam, during which 26 tourists were killed on April 22 by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists in the name of religion. The emotions around the contest are mixed, and there have been calls to boycott the fixture against Pakistan.

During the buildup to the clash between the two rivals, fans have taken to social media and declared that they won't be tuning in to watch the rivalry. To address the issue, the Indian Government devised a policy regarding sports events involving Pakistan last month.

The government announced that the Indian athletes and teams will be allowed to participate in international events that also have teams or players from Pakistan. However, India will continue to abstain from participating in competitions in Pakistan and will not participate in any bilateral competition.

Doeschate addressed the heavy backlash and revealed that, personally, he didn't believe that they would be travelling for the tournament as the schedule remained in a "limbo" for an extended period. He revealed that the "sensitive issue" was addressed in the team meeting, and players will remain "professional" as they can be while taking into account the current situation.

"Yes, I think it will. It's obviously a very sensitive issue, and I've got no doubt the players share the compassion and the feeling of the vast majority of the Indian public. Look, the Asia Cup was in limbo for a long period of time, and we were just waiting.

We didn't think we were going to be coming at one stage. But obviously, you know what the Indian government's stance is on it, and now the team, and particularly the players, have to put those sentiments and emotions behind them," Doeschate said on the eve of the clash during a press conference.

"It's actually something we addressed in the team meeting today. So we're aware of people's feelings, but at the same time, we've got to go out and the guys get a chance to play for their country again tomorrow and they'll be as professional and as focused as they can be given the circumstances," he added.

Doeschate explained the message that head coach Gautam Gambhir has sent to his players, and the Indian side will try to be "emotionless" for the match, for which they haven't done anything special in terms of their preparations.

"Look, I think the waiting period of knowing whether this was going to happen was probably the most frustrating part. And once we knew we were going to be playing, we tried to get on with the business of it. This game, particularly, we haven't prepared differently like I said earlier. But we obviously are aware of the sentiments and the strong feelings. And Gauti's message has just been sort of very professional about not worrying about things that are not in our control and just trying to be emotionless when approaching the cricket side of things," he said.

"And the guys are professional enough now. I'm sure individuals have different levels of feeling on the spectrum of where they feel the whole situation is. But the messaging has been to just focus on the cricket and try to just focus on the one game tomorrow," he added.

The Dutch assistant coach was also quizzed on whether the players would make a statement about the Phalagam terror attack. But Doeschate simply said that they are following the directives from the BCCI and the Indian government.

"I guess the other side of the argument is that you separate sports and politics, and people have different opinions on that. Hopefully, the way we play can represent how the players feel about the country. I understand the position, and like I explained, the sentiment, but we are following the direction of what the BCI and the Indian government have decided is right for the country at the moment," he said.

India squad for Asia Cup: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson, Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh.

Pakistan squad for Asia Cup: Salman Ali Agha (C), Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Waseem Jnr, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Shaheen Afridi, Sufyan Moqim. (ANI)

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