By IANS
Gwalior : Robin Uthappa said Wednesday the 2-1 lead in the series will be a huge confidence booster for the hosts against Pakistan ahead of their fourth one-day international here Thursday.
“I think it is a huge confidence (booster). The last two games could have been gone either way, and we did well to come back in Kanpur after the Mohali game. The team’s morale is pretty high and we are looking forward to the match,” said Uthappa on the eve of the match at the Captain Roop Singh Stadium.
Asked whether India is under any pressure, Uthappa said: “Pressure is good in any format of the game. Against Australia it brought the best out in us and made us ready for this series.
“There is pressure in this series as well, as it can still go either way. But we are confident of doing well, as we are on top of our game.”
The swashbuckling middle-order batsman also added, “I can promise that nothing has taken out the punch from an India-Pakistan series. It is still intense and still hostile as it used to be on the field. We still play it tough on the field.”
He said that players needed periodic rest. “There is a lot of cricket being played these days, and obviously you need to take some time off from it. A fast bowler runs almost 12 km during one match. Your body needs to recover from that stress and workload. We certainly need rest because we have been playing a lot of cricket in the last six months or so,” said Uthappa.
Asked which position he would like to bat at, he said: “As long as I am contributing to the team’s cause, it does not matter to me where I am batting. I can bat anywhere.”
The batsman was accompanied by team manager Lalchand Rajput, who added that the day and night encounter here would be a high-scoring game. “(The) pitch is good and we think the game will be a high-scoring one. There will also be the dew factor in the second session like it had happened in Mohali,” said Rajput. “Our aim is to win the series. If we can finish the task here tomorrow, it will be great.”
Rajput added the team management will decide on the playing XI later after assessing all the factors, and that will be in the morning.