Skipper Rohit Sharma said that his team won’t borrow the burden from the past when they face Pakistan on Sunday in their opening match of Asia Cup 2022. The two arch-rivals last faced each other last year in the group stage match of 2021 T20 World Cup where Pakistan emerged victorious after an underwhelming show from India. However, after the tournament, India changed their approach in T20I cricket and started embracing a fearless approach.
Rohit didn’t reveal the combination which India are expected to start with, in the high-octane encounter as he also admitted that both teams will miss the services of their premier bowlers – Jasprit Bumrah (India) and Shaheen Shah Afridi (Pakistan)
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“We can’t say about tomorrow’s match, that how the pitch will behave. It is for fast bowlers or spinners. Both teams are going to miss their quality bowlers. But I am hoping that whoever will fill the space of Bumrah will do his best,” the Indian skipper said in the pre-match presentation.
The 35-year-old said that the team management will finalize their playing XI after the match between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan as they want to analyse how the pitch is expected to behave.
“Every match and tournament is a fresh start, we don’t borrow the burden from the past. We will focus on the match to win not on the opposition. Everyone in the team is quite excited. We will make the decision on basis of pitch behaviour of today’s match (between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan),” he added
Rohit, who was dismissed on a duck in the 2021 T20 WC encounter against Pakistan, said that there is no need to think about that defeat as their primary focus is to learn from the mistakes.
“We will decide our course of action as per the situation on the ground. A new match is a new challenge. No point to think about the last loss, yes, we think about it and learn from our mistakes. This non-covid compliance scenario is going to help us and it is good for our mental health,” added Rohit.
On meeting the Pakistani fans during practice sessions, Rohit said it may be an unusual for the media, but for us, it is a normal thing. “Yesterday, they were close to me, so I say Hi, as for us they all are cricket fans. Same as match hype or match tension, media makes the hype, but we play the game only.”
The skipper further talked about the opening combination and said that team has tried several things to know their strengths and weakness.
“We tried many new things, new combinations. If we will not try how we can know our strengths and weakness,” Rohit said.
Sunday’s match will see Virat Kohli playing his 100th T20I match, after the last playing in England in July. “Virat is back after a break. Yesterday in nets he did amazing shots, it was really good for us as a team.”
On the question of bilateral series between two teams, Rohit said, “It is in the hands of the Boards. If we follow their instructions, to play anywhere, any time.”
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