‘Pakistan has Colombo advantage’: Ten Doeschate welcomes U-turn but warns India of tough T20 World Cup clash

Team India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate welcomed Pakistan’s U-turn on the India boycott but warned the Men in Blue of a potential challenge playing them in Colombo, where they have been staying and practising for the past two weeks. Amid uncertainty surrounding the India-Pakistan match at the T20 World Cup on February 15, ten Doeschate confirmed that the notion within the dressing room had always remained positive (about this game going ahead), despite the rigidity of boycotting it looming since.

While embracing the move by the Pakistan government and the PCB to allow its players to take the field against India in Colombo, ten Doeschate detailed the preparation routine in the Indian camp for this marquee clash.

"First of all, it's great that the game's back on," ten Doeschate said in Delhi on Tuesday (Feb 10).

"We kind of never changed our preparation that the game wasn't going to happen. We were always under the impression that something would transpire, and we would play. So, it's no big change the way we are going about things. And I guess we kind of got confirmation sort of late yesterday and early this morning. It started coming through that the game was going to go ahead, and we are delighted to have another chance to play against the quality side (Pakistan) in this first phase of the tournament,” he continued.

Speaking of how the Indian Team likes to keep cricket away from politics despite understanding the geo-political situation involving the two countries, the assistant coach stressed how they always assumed they would play Pakistan in this scheduled Group A tie.

“We kind of accepted that as a status quo (to play), and until we got there and they didn't show up, we were assuming we were going to play. We also, we're also trying to stay clear of all the politics I've mentioned before about the sentiments of the country and know the different politics between the two countries, but it's really important for us just to focus on the cricket side of things.

“It's going to be a challenge going to Colombo, where Pakistan have been for the last two weeks, and we fully focused on just bringing our best game to that fixture next week,” he added.

Meanwhile, playing in Colombo, which is Pakistan’s venue for all matches in this edition, the Men in Green tasted success in the two contested matches against the Netherlands and the USA, respectively. With two wins in as many matches thus far, they sit at the top of the Group A points table, with India in the second place with one win (against the USA). While India’s next game is against Namibia on Thursday (Feb 12) in Delhi, their third league game against Pakistan has had everyone talking since.