India captain Rohit plays down hype around Pakistan Asia Cup blockbuster

India captain Rohit Sharma played down hype around Saturday’s Asia Cup blockbuster against Pakistan, saying their focus is on using the tournament to fine-tune their preparations for the home World Cup later this year.

The next round of cricket’s most emotionally charged rivalry will take place in Pallekele between the arch-rivals, who play each other only in multi-team events thanks to their soured political relations.

They could face each other up to three times in two weeks during the course of the tournament, including in the Sept. 17 final, and Rohit appeared determined not to get carried away by emotion.

“Rivalry is there for people to talk about. For us, we don’t want to look into all those things,” the opener deadpanned in the pre-match press conference on Friday.

“What we, as Team India, want to focus on is we have an opposition to play tomorrow, how we can perform (well)… rather than looking at all sorts of other things, which eventually is not going to help you.

“What is going to help us is — keep doing the right things on the pitch and make the right decisions that take us forward as a team.”

The six-team tournament assumes more importance for India as they chase their first global title in more than a decade at the home World Cup in October-November.

“We’re here to tick a lot of boxes,” said Rohit.

“When we finish the tournament, hopefully we can achieve that and go into the next one and half months of the World Cup.”

The match could prove a battle between India’s formidable batting and Pakistan’s fiery pace attack led by Shaheen Afridi.

“They are an excellent side, they have performed really well in the last few years — be it in the T20 World Cup or in the 50-overs format,” Rohit said of Pakistan, currently the top-ranked one-day team in the world.

“You don’t just become the number one side like that, it takes lot of hard work. They have been playing as a unit and it would be a great challenge for us facing them.

“We have prepared well, hopefully we can execute our plans well tomorrow.”

You have to be at your absolute best to face Pakistan: Kohli

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli seems to be preparing his team for an intense clash as he is clearly not underestimating the Green Shirts.

In a clip shared by India’s Star Sports channel of Kohli’s interview, titled ‘Prime Time With Virat Kohli’, the legend termed the upcoming match as an “exciting challenge” and stated: “You have to be at your absolute best to face them (Pakistan).”

Talking about what the Men in Blue expected from their arch-rivals, Kohli said, “It’s an exciting challenge every time you play Pakistan because they have a lot of talent in their team.”

The cricket star did not miss the chance to praise Pakistan’s bowling team, saying, “They are a quality team overall but I feel bowling is their strength. They have got some really impactful bowlers that can change the course of the game anytime based on their skill set.”

Kohli also explained how the one-day international (ODI) format has “always brought the best” out of him.

“I like to embrace that challenge and play according to my situation to help my team win, and I’ve always tried to do that,” he added.

Kohli further said, “I don’t think you can perform consistently without that mindset because if your performance is the only goal, then after a certain period, you can also stop working hard after being satisfied.”

“I do not know the definition of excellence,” he stated, adding that it had “no limit and there is no set achievement that you have achieved excellence once you reach that point”.

The cricket superstar said, “I think I try to work towards betterment every day. Performance, of course, becomes a by-product because your mindset is ‘how I can make my team win here’.”

In another clip from the same interview, shared by Star Sports a day ago, the Indian player said, “White ball cricket mindset has always been to be aggressive. It’s important to be aware of what the situation of the game is regardless of how you want to play.

Kohli also stressed the importance of maintaining composure during lengthy one-day matches.

“You can’t one-dimensional cricket in ODIs for sure, especially in big tournaments, because the pressure is that much more so composure is what wins you games.”