Adelaide: Irfan Pathan dismissed suggestions that the players’ discussion over IPL contracts distracted their focus during the 50-run defeat to Australia. The allrounder added that Team India would take on Sri Lanka on a positive note on Tuesday.

“When we play cricket, we only play cricket and don’t think about any other issue,” the Indian allrounder told a news conference on Monday.

The following are excerpts

Are you under pressure now?

Tomorrow is an important game for both teams. The pressure will not only be on us… Sri Lanka will also be feeling it. They have a game more than us but we have more points. They were the World Cup finalists. They are a very good side… though they haven’t done well so far, we can’t take them lightly… We have to be on our toes. We have learnt from the mistakes. We had a meeting today and discussed the issues where improvement was needed. Let me be clear that nobody enjoys losing. I’m sure the positives from today’s meeting will be seen on the field tomorrow.

Did the discussion over IPL contracts affect the players’ focus in Sunday’s match?

I have no right to talk on this issue. If you have any query, you should talk to the team management.

But was there any lack of commitment from your end during the match?

When you write you don’t think about your family and friends. Similarly, when we play cricket, we only play cricket and don’t think about any other issue.

Were you ready to bat up the order?

Obviously. I knew that I would be batting at No. 3... The team management had told me in advance. I’m not concerned about such reshuffling of my batting order.

Players like Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik are sitting out while the new-look middle order is yet to fire. A worry?

See, who have sat out will wait for their chances to come. When I used to sit out, I always tried to help the team in whatever way I could.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has said the newcomers must be given the confidence that they wouldn’t be dropped after one bad day in office. Your take on that.

This is his (Dhoni’s) thinking. See, some of the guys in the middle order are young. It’s not that you immediately are going to find your feet in international cricket. It’s going to take some time. This kind of setback, that the batting is not performing as a unit, is actually a good thing to happen in a way that they can start looking back and realising what needs to be done.