Dhoni urges India to stay focused on final target

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has ordered his players to ignore the hype surrounding today's World Cup clash with Pakistan and focus on securing a place in the final.

The last-four encounter between the two sub-continent rivals has attracted huge interest in the region and will be attended by Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani.

The pressure on the tournament co-hosts to see off their greatest rivals is immense but Dhoni is determined not to let it derail his preparations.

He said: "We know the kind of media hype India-Pakistan matches generate. We are not getting involved in all this. We need to know what we are expected to do and focus on that.

"All this is part of cricket and we have to accept it. But the key is not to get involved.

"We will have the biggest distinguished guests to see the match, we have to be at our best.

"We all know it's a big tournament, we have prepared a lot for it and its better to take it one game at a time.

"We are playing the semi-finals but the most important thing is how we prepare ourselves. I think you need to prepare in the same way and that's what we have been doing for the past few days."

Pakistan's strength arguably lies in their bowling and Dhoni admits India's powerful top-order need to be wary.

"I think they are a very good bowling attack, they have got bowlers who can bowl quick and at the same time their spinners have been doing really well and they have got part-timers who can contribute," he said.

"They have a couple of bowling all-rounders with (Abdul] Razzaq and (Shahid] Afridi, that gives them the liberty of playing with more than five bowlers."