India will try to 'focus on our processes' than worry about the opposition (Bangladesh) while preparing for the Nidahas tri-series final on Sunday, according to middle-order batsman Dinesh Karthik.
After having lost the tourney opener, India has won three in a row to waltz through to the final. Karthik, speaking to the media in Colombo on Saturday, acknowledged India's successful run and hoped for another 'good game' to round off the campaign.
He said, "Till now we've been pretty successful in this tournament, and [we’re] looking forward to one more good game, and I'm sure it's going to be a very good match."
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Karthik is aware of the quality Bangladesh offers, 'especially in subcontinental conditions' and spoke of the potential banana slip against an opponent frequently typecast as underdog. He said, "When we win, it's alright, it's Bangladesh, but when we lose...'dude you've lost to Bangladesh, what are you doing?'. I'm sure that's going to be there."
‘A very good team’
However, Karthik later added, it is a "very good team to be playing."
He said, "They're a team which achieved Test status not many years ago and from there on they've kind of propelled forward in all formats of the game. They've done well for themselves. Especially in sub-continental conditions, they're a very good team to be playing. When it comes to us, we're trying to focus on our processes. That's given us good results till now. We're being well-led by Rohit and the team has been doing well so, in terms of preparations, we'll try to keep it as similar to what it was in the previous game and not tinker too much."
Regardless of quality of the teams involved in the final or the magnitude of the occasion, however, the crowd turnout could be low at the R. Premadasa Stadium as host Sri Lanka won’t be playing. Karthik weighed in on the scenario.
He said, "This has been the case for the tri-series. This is one of the reasons why the tri-series wasn't in vogue for a long time now. You don't see many tri-series, because the home team is not playing, we always tend to get a match with very little crowd. But you have got to take the pros with the cons; from the players' perspective, in terms of the tournament, it gets a little tricky because you have to be constantly playing well in every match to stand a chance to get to the final. But having said that, tomorrow the home team is not going to be playing, so I don't know how many people are going to turn up, I generally wish they turn up in good numbers."
Every tournament important
Karthik, who has scored 56 runs in four innings in the tourney so far, would hope to compel India's selectors to retain him in the limited-overs setup with a successful showing in the final. The 32-year-old, who has been building his brand solely as a batsman nowadays, admits "every tournament is going to be important" to remain in the pecking order.
"From where I sit, every tournament is going to be important. I have one bad tournament, I'll be on my way out. So, in every tournament I've got to be at the top of my game, trying to do as well as I can. I'll be under pressure, but from where I'm sitting I need to be able to handle pressure. I need to embrace it rather than run away from it or use it as an excuse. It doesn't matter whether I played this tournament, or IPL, or the England series after that," he said.
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