Kolkata: India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is known to be a straight-talker and at yesterday's pre-match press conference, he made no bones about the fact that today's big ticket clash against Pakistan is as good as a do-or-die encounter for the Men in Blue. "The (Indo-Pak) rivalry is huge… it's bigger than the Ashes. It's not a game. For Indians and Pakistanis fans, it's more than a game, it's a border rivalry," said Ashwin ahead of today's Eden Gardens World T20 encounter.

Ravichandran Ashwin. Pics/PTI