NEW DELHI: A day after the Pakistan government announced that their cricket team would take the field against India in Colombo on Sunday, Ryan ten Doeschate, India's assistant coach, said it didn't change anything as they always assumed that the match would be on.
“First of all, I think it's great that the game is back on,” the Dutchman told reporters two days out from their game against Namibia.
“We kind of never changed the preparation, because the game wasn't going to happen. We accepted that as a status quo until we got there, and they didn't show, so we were assuming we were going to play. We always had an impression that something would transpire, and we would play. So it's not a big change in the way we do things,” he added.
The former Dutch all-rounder went on to say that India would like another chance to go up against a quality side. “It's good for the team. We also try to stay clear of all the politics. I have mentioned before about the sentiments of the country and know the different politics between the two countries. But I think 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 focus on just bringing our best game to that fixture next week,” he said.