Pakistan and India will renew their decades-old hockey rivalry on Saturday when they meet in the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Queensland, Australia.
Despite being almost 10,000km away from home, the two teams' storied rivalry has generated enough buzz that the event organisers are expecting a jam-packed stadium.
India coach Sjoerd Marijne says his charges will not be fazed and are taking tomorrow's encounter as any other game.
"I addressed the team before my first match against Pakistan and they said it was business as usual so we are taking it as normal," the Dutchman said in a media briefing. "Rather than focusing on one match we have an eye on the whole tournament."
Marijne's compatriot Roelant Oltmans, who has also coached India in the past but is currently in charge of Pakistan, believes all the plans and pre-match tactics go out the window in Indo-Pak matches.
"[In these matches] each side only thinks about the outcome and totally forgets the process," he said. "Emotions override structures and strategies."
Pakistan's Muhammad Tousiq agreed with Marijne that players should, in theory, remain clam on the pitch but admitted that that rarely happens.
"It means so much to the millions of fans who watch this game," he said. "Both sets of supporters desperately want [their team] to win.
"As players we should be relaxed on the pitch, but sometimes we get carried away. I am sure things would be different this time too as they always are when Pakistan and India are playing."
