If you ask me, India-Pakistan game is always a high-pressure game: Suresh Raina

My experience in matches against Pakistan was that they always played their hearts out. The two teams met at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup for the first time in the group stages in 2007, when India won in a bowl-out. When India and Pakistan play, it’s always exciting and good for fans to watch. Many millions of people tune in and expect to be entertained – they are never disappointed.

That was true from the start at the T20 World Cup and then they met in the final of the first tournament, with India winning by five runs. I was involved in the games in 2014 and 2016. If you ask me, as a player, it was always a high-pressure game. In the build-up, everyone is just telling you how big it is.

You need to make sure you calm your nerves, focus on the process and play 40 overs of good cricket. It’s easier said than done, but it’s the only way to try to win that game. It’s all about handling the pressure and enjoying the game – if you can. That’s what India have always done over the years, and tried to go out and do it for our country.

Kohli and Babar are excellent leaders

This year, it will be exciting as both Virat Kohli and Babar Azam are excellent leaders, and knowing how important the game is, there will be so much passion on show from both teams. You know that the captains will set the example on that front, and that passion filters through to the rest of the team.

Babar is one of the leading T20I batters in the world. Like Virat Kohli, he is proof that good batting and good captaincy go hand in hand.

The good thing from an Indian perspective is that there is a really strong line-up of experienced players with Virat joined by Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja as leaders of the team. Thanks to the IPL, our team has a lot of experience of playing in the UAE and dealing with the conditions there which should stand them in good stead.

On the other hand, the fact that Babar has senior players around him like Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez will help him because this is still the first major tournament in which he is captaining the team. It’s going to be a very good contest with Virat in one corner and Babar in another. They are both really competitive guys who know what the rivalry is all about.

The fans have enjoyed this rivalry over the years and it is cricket at its best. It has come down the generations from Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Sourav Ganguly, Inzamam-ul-Haq, MS Dhoni and now we have Kohli and Babar. It’s a great legacy to have and I hope we get another game to remember.