Dubai [UAE], February 22 : Ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy clash against arch-rivals Pakistan, Indian vice-captain Shubman Gill said that wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant missed the practice session due to viral fever.
The game is a high-stakes battle for both teams, as while Pakistan will try to keep their title defence alive, India will aim to almost confirm its berth in the semis. The game is also being touted as an opportunity for India to avenge the loss of the 2017 Champions Trophy Final when Virat Kohli's men were deprived of putting their hands on the ICC trophy.
Unlike the 50-over and T20 World Cups, Pakistan holds a 3-2 advantage over India in the Champions Trophy. The most notable encounter remains the 180-run triumph in the 2017 Champions Trophy final, which makes Sunday's game even more exciting for fans from both sides of the border.
Speaking ahead of the match in the pre-match presser, Gill said about Pant, "Firstly, Rishabh is, I think, down with viral; that is why he did not come for practice."
Gill also said that as a vice-captain, he tries to keep players who are not part of the playing eleven in a good mindset and ready for their chance.
"Those are the kinds of conversations that I have with them whenever I get the chance or if I see if someone is feeling a little low or lacking in something. I talk to them and have those conversations," he added.
Gill said that his vice-captaincy has not changed anything, as he still aspires to play as a batter.
"Because I feel that is when - or that's what brings the best out of me. So, whenever I am batting out there, I'm just playing however I would play, irrespective of if I am the vice-captain or not," he added.
Gill said that an Indian-Pakistan clash's high-profile and hyped nature does not change anything for the team, as it wants to win every match.
"This is how we prepare for any match that we play. So that is how we are going to prepare for this one as well," he said.
The young batter said that on this Dubai wicket, dew did not come much during the campaign opener against Bangladesh, and in the absence of dew under the lights, it would be key to rotate the strike well in the middle overs, between overs 11 to 40.
Gill said it would be important to assess the condition and wickets first to determine whether the team will continue with their high-risk, fearless cricket on Dubai's slow wickets.
"When you play, we were lucky that we went to the field first, so we got a bit of an idea how the wicket is playing, and as a batsman, your skill is renowned by knowing how well you can assess any situation or condition that you are playing in and that's what we try to do as batsmen," he said.
"Definitely, we want to play aggressive and positive cricket, but that also depends on - the score would be different on every wicket that we play. A 300 on this wicket or 280 on this wicket would be a very good score for us, or if the wicket plays any differently, we might get 350 or 360 runs. We do not have any particular target set in our mind. We usually go out there, see how the wicket is and then try to get 15-20 runs more than what the par score we think that is on that wicket," he added.
Gill does not feel that the toss will play a massive role in the match.
"We have seen that dew hasn't come that much. If dew comes, then toss is very important in a 50-over match. If we do not get dew, then I think it would not make much of a difference. But, for any team - in any big match, if we do not get dew, the team batting later will have more pressure. So, the team that handles the pressure better will have a better chance of winning," he added.
Gill said that after his poor outing in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which saw him score just 93 runs in five innings, he did not feel his batting was flawed.
"But definitely, sometimes, there is a mental aspect. We focus a lot on batting and think that if we are not getting runs, then there will be some fault in batting. But it is not necessary that there is always something wrong with batting. It is possible that there is a shortcoming in something else. So, I did not do any work on anything special, but I knew that white ball one day is coming up and then T20. So, I am practising the normal things that I do at home generally," he concluded.
India squad for CT2025: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohd. Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Pakistan squad for CT2025: Mohammad Rizwan (c), Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Tayyab Tahir, Faheem Ashraf, Khushdil Shah, Salman Ali Agha, Usman Khan, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi.