Rohit Sharma downplays the rivalry against Pakistan in a crucial match
Before their Asia Cup 2023 opener against Pakistan, India's captain Rohit Sharma talked to the media, cleaning down rumors of the two teams' rivalry.
On Saturday, September 2, in Pallekele, the opening match of the Asia Cup 2023 is scheduled to match India against Pakistan. While the rivalry makes this a highly anticipated match, Rohit said that for team India, this is just another opponent.
In the press conference preceding the game, the captain noticed, "There are six very competitive teams in the Asia Cup, and on any particular day, anyone can beat anyone."
This is the Biggest rivalry in the History of Cricket everyone is excited about this match and people have always been very excited about the PAK vs IND match in past years.
"Rivalvary is there for people to talk about. As a team, we can see that we will play a rival tomorrow and choose what we're going to do. We need to maintain performing properly on the pitch if we want to succeed."
Pakistan recently rose to No.1 in the MRF Tyres ICC Men's ODI Team Rankings.
"Pakistan has done well well in recent T20Is and ODIs." They battled very hard to become No. 1, and it will be an excellent challenge for us tomorrow," he continued.
Pakistan started up their Asia Cup campaign with a defeat of Nepal in the first game in Multan. After an early hiccup, they went on to post a competitive score and then were precise with the ball to get the competition off to a good start.
Shaheen Shah Afridi led their new ball attack, picking up the two wickets in the first over against Nepal and presenting an important danger to India tomorrow.
While questioned about the Pakistan pace attack threat, Rohit replied that the team was going to depend on experience to counter the pace three.
"Look, we don't have Shaheen, Naseem, or Rauf in the nets." We practice with those who we have. They are all excellent bowlers. "All we have to do today is use our experience to play them tomorrow," he said.
The captain also understated the importance of the toss, saying that winning the toss did not guarantee victory in the match.
"We try to keep our goals small and see what comes our way." We have Pakistan to deal with tomorrow, so we'll focus on that first and then move forward. We have given many players time, and they will have another chance in a tournament with six teams. We took care of the issues we were hoping to address. Now we want to focus.
