Calcutta: The last time India and Pakistan met on a cricket field, the latter emerged victorious. But that victory, in the Champions Trophy final in England last year, is a thing of past for Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed.

The arch-rivals will be locking horns in the Asia Cup, in Dubai on Wednesday.

Speaking at a media conference in Dubai on Tuesday, Sarfraz said: ""Beating India in the (2017) Champions Trophy final is a thing of the past, woh time nikal gaya... This is a new match, new atmosphere and we would like to take the momentum of our last match into Wednesday's game."

Pakistan's first match in this edition of the Asia Cup was against Hong Kong, which they won comfortably.

Talking about pressure, Sarfraz said: "Pressure is always there, but we deal with it by telling ourselves that we should have the same intensity for every match. We take these matches normally. There is hype everywhere, it does affect, but we play it as just any other match."

Sarfraz, in fact, expects the hype around the Indo-Pak contest to inspire his players. "Whenever we are playing against India, everybody wants us to win. It inspires us, we get well wishes from fans... It's the same for the Indians. Any player who performs in this match gets to be a hero, that has been the case in the past," Sarfraz said.

The Pakistan captain, however, refused to call the game a contest between India's batting unit and Pakistan's bowling attack.

"India might have prepared for our bowling, we have planned for their bowling too. We are prepared and will execute our plans in the match. I don't think it's India's batting versus our bowling, we have good batsmen too."

Sarfraz believes that India would be under pressure. "India have got back-to-back matches, but their schedule has started later than others. They would be under pressure because their performance coming into this tournament was not good," he said.

He doesn't though believe that absence of regular captain Virat Kohli will affect India in any way.

"As a team, not to have your regular captain is an issue. There could be a difference in the mindset of the team. But they have enough players who have done well for them, and the conditions are also the same for them. If conditions are adverse, then a world-class player makes a difference," Sarfraz said.

Kohli has been rested for the tournament after the tour of England.With Pakistan playing their 'home' series in the UAE in the recent years, many believe that they are more used to the testing conditions than the other teams. "People say it's our home ground, but conditions are even for all the teams... "

Mohammed Aamir went wicketless in first match, against Hong Kong. Sarfraz was a bit concerned and hoped he would do better against India.