To respect an opposition doesn't come with victories & defeats: R Ashwin reacts to Ramiz Raja's remarks

Pakistan and India are set to lock horns in the forthcoming Men's T20 World Cup 2022 edition, in Australia. While the qualifiers begin on October 16, the main draw of the competition will kick off on October 22 with India and Pakistan meeting each other at the iconic MCG, Melbourne on October 23.

In the last one year, the two senior men's sides have met thrice, with Babar Azam & Co. having a 2-1 lead. In the one game that Men in Green lost to Rohit Sharma-led India, they were close to winning that encounter as well before Hardik Pandya's last-over heroics sealed the deal for Team India during the group stage encounter at the 2022 Asia Cup.

Before India and Pakistan meet again, on October 23 at the MCG,PCB chief Ramiz Raja made heads turn with his recent remarks. The former Pakistan captain is of the opinion that India once used to take the field with the notion that their arch-rivals will never be able to beat them.

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"It is a mental match more than skill and talent. So, if you are temperamentally strong, mentally focused and not willing to give up, then any small team can defeat a bigger opposition and Pakistan have been underdogs whenever they have competed against India, but of late, they have started respecting us because they had a gut feeling that Pakistan would never be able to beat us," Raja had said whilespeaking on Dawn News.

In the 2021 T20 WC, Pakistan had hammered India by ten wickets to earn their maiden win over the neighbouring country in World Cup history.

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After India's practice game versus Western Australia XI, where Rohit & Co. won by 13 runs, off-spinner R Ashwin responded to Ramiz's recent statements. "Until you said that, I didnt know he made a statement like that. That's one way of dealing with it," Ashwin was quoted as saying after India's warm-up match in Perth on Monday (October 10).

He further opined, "But look, it's a game of cricket. Whatever political tensions and whatever stays between the teams, the rivalry is big, it means a lot to the people from both countries. But at the end of the day, whatever you may say as a cricketer and as someone who is playing the sport, you do understand that wins and losses are part of the game, especially in this format, the margins are going to be so close."

Ashwin added, "To respect an opposition is not something that comes with victories and defeats. It comes in the way you are made. We definitely respect that Pakistani side and so do they."