File photo of Babar Azam (left) and Rohit Sharma.© AFP
India are set to take on Pakistan in their Asia Cup 2023 campaign opener on September 2 at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Sri Lanka. Rohit Sharma will be the captain of the Indian side against the Babar Azam-led team. This will be the first game between the two sides since their 2022 T20 World Cup game. Ahead of the game on Saturday, Rohit praised the Pakistan team and also gave an interesting reply when asked if there would be an India vs Pakistan game in the final of the tournament.
“Probably maybe in this tournament,” was the reply of Rohit on chances of a summit clash between the arch-rivals in Asia Cup 2023.
“Pakistan have played really well in recent times in T20s and ODIs. They worked really hard to be No.1, it’ll be a good challenge for us tomorrow (Saturday),” he added.
Ahead of the Asia Cup, Pakistan rose to the number 1 position in the ICC Men’s ODI Team Rankings. On the other hand, India are at the third spot.
While fans are much excited about the clash that takes places on Satuday, Rohit downplayed the talks saying: “Rivalry is there for people to talk about. As a team, what we see is we have an opposition to play tomorrow and see what we want to do. What is going to help us is to keep doing the right things on the field.
“There are six very competitive teams in the Asia Cup and on a given day anyone can beat anyone.”
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