‘No Need to Motivate Them’: Coach Kirsten’s Pakistan Moved On from USA Defeat, 'Focused' to Face India

The past couple of weeks have been painful for the Babar Azam-led Pakistan. They had an underwhelming tour of England, losing the 4-match T20I series 2-0. Comes the T20 World Cup, the men in green suffered a stunning defeat at the hands of the USA in the campaign opener in Dallas. They will now move to New York to face the upbeat Team India at the Nassau County stadium where track that has been challenging to bat at.

Pakistan’s newly-appointed coach Gary Kirsten believes that his team won’t need any extra motivation while facing arch-rivals India in the T20 World Cup on Sunday. Babar & Co. have moved on from the USA hammering and are focused on the challenge which awaits them in New York.

“It’s a big game India (versus) Pakistan, there’s no need for me to motivate the team anymore. They are well-motivated, they are focused on this game,” Kirsten told the media on the eve of the match.

“We have to forget about the last couple of days and just move forward, that’s the only way you can deal with life. Results are results (and they) take care of themselves,” he added.

While India have been based in New York and played two matches including one warmup game against Bangladesh, Pakistan will be playing here for the first time in this tournament. Kirsten refused to see it as an advantage to India.

“We were going to go out there and make sure we do the best that we can with our skill sets and how we can put pressure on the opposition. I’m not sure because I can’t predict what’s going to happen. I don’t know whether it’ll be an advantage,” he said.

Kirsten said Pakistan will need a team effort to challenge India.

“It’s never nice, not winning games for any player. They (Pakistan players) are trying their best. The important thing for us is that we operate genuinely as a team,” he said.

“Yes, we need individuals to make good performances. But playing games like this, (what is needed) is a real team effort. It’s a big game. (What happened) two days ago is forgotten. We can’t take it back. It’s gone, so we move on,” he added.

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