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Colombo: Pakistan’s Twenty20 captain Mohammed Hafeez tried to downplay the hype surrounding their warm-up tie against India saying it was not a crunch game for them.
“It is not the crunch game. We are treating it as any other practice tie,” Hafeez told reporters on Sunday.
However, he said that beating their arch rivals in the practice match would be crucial to give them the momentum ahead of the World T20.
“It’s a game that we always take positively. It’s a practice game, but we want to win the game.
“We have got good momentum while coming into the series after winning against Australia. It gave us the right momentum and we want to maintain it by winning against India. It will give us the energy ahead of the World T20. I’m very confident that we will do well,” Hafeez added.
Hafeez congratulated Yuvraj Singh on his return to international cricket after recovering from cancer.
“I would like to congratulate Yuvraj… He is truly an inspiration… The way he recovered from his illness is amazing. On behalf of the Pakistan team, the Pakistan Cricket Board and the nation, I wish him very best of health,” he said.
In December, India will be playing a bilateral one-day and T20 series against Pakistan.
On being asked to comment on resumption of cricketing ties with India, Hafeez called it a “positive step that will bring the governments together.”
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