(1/2)Cricket – Fourth Test – India v Australia – Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, India – March 13, 2023 India’s Rohit Sharma receives the Border Gavaskar trophy after winning the test series REUTERS/Amit Dave/File Photo Purchase license rights
COLOMBO, Sept 1 (Reuters) – India captain Rohit Sharma played down expectations surrounding Saturday’s Asia Cup blockbuster against Pakistansaying their focus is on using the tournament to fine-tune their preparations for the World Cup on home soil later this year.
The next round of cricket’s most emotionally charged rivalry will take place in Pallekele between the arch-rivals, who meet only in multi-team events thanks to their bitter political relations.
They could meet up to three times in two weeks over the course of the tournament, including the final on September 17, and Rohit seemed determined not to get carried away with the excitement.
“The rivalry is there to talk about the people. We don’t want to analyze all those things,” said the starter, impassive, on Friday at the pre-game press conference.
“What we as an Indian team want to focus on is who we’re going to play tomorrow, how we can perform (well)… instead of looking at all sorts of other things, which eventually won’t help you.”
“What will help us is to continue to do the right thing on the field and make the right decisions that move us forward as a team.”
The six-team tournament looms large for India, which is seeking its first world title in more than a decade at the World Cup on home soil in October-November.
“We are here to meet a lot of requirements,” Rohit said.
“When we finish the tournament, hopefully we can make it and move on to the next month and a half of the World Cup.”
The match could turn out to be a battle between India’s formidable batting and Pakistan’s fierce attack led by Shaheen Afridi.
“They’re an excellent team, they’ve done very well in recent years, whether it’s in the T20 World Cup or in the 50 overs format,” Rohit said of Pakistan, currently the highest-ranked one-day team in the tournament. world.
“You don’t become number one like that, but it takes a lot of work. They’ve been playing as a unit and it would be a great challenge for us to play them.”
“We have prepared well and hopefully we can execute our plans well tomorrow.”
Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; Editing by David Holmes
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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