Babar Azam said the hype, expectations and pressure around the India vs Pakistan games certainly make players nervous and advised his side to stay calm and stick to basics ahead of the much-awaited T20 World Cup clash.
Pakistan are in Group A of the World Cup and begin their campaign against hosts USA on June 6. They will then take on arch-rivals India in one of the event's highly-anticipated matches three days later.
India have lost only once to Pakistan in the T20 World Cup in seven meetings with their only defeat coming in 2021 when the Virat Kohli-led side lost by 10 wickets at the Super 12 stage.
"An India-Pakistan match is always the most talked about; it is discussed too much wherever you go in the world," Babar said in a PCB podcast on Sunday.
"The players get different vibes and excitement. What will happen is that everyone supports their country, so the focus is on that match. The whole world is focused on the day when the India-Pakistan match is held.
"Naturally, there will be nerves, but we need to keep our focus, stick to the basics and play easy cricket. It is always a pressure game; the more you keep cool and calm, believe in your skills and hard work, then things get easier."
The Pakistan skipper rued the missed chances in the 2022 edition.
“For me, in 2022, we could and should have won the India game, but they took it away.
The most hurtful was the defeat against Zimbabwe. It hurts more because we had played good cricket against India and people were praising our performance and fight back,” he recalled about their one-run defeat in a last-ball thriller.
