In his first reaction to the ongoing BCCI vs PCB debate over hosting the 2023 Asia Cup, India captain Rohit Sharma quite expectedly said that he is currently focused on the job at hand, which is the T20 World Cup in Australia. The India captain also added that he is looking forward to start his tournament with a good performance against Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday. There were strong reactions from the Pakistan cricket fraternity, including a request from the PCB to pull out of the T20 World Cup match against India after BCCI secretary and Asian Cricket Council president Jay Shah announced that India would not travel to Pakistan for next year’s Asia Cup and that the tournament would will be held at a neutral location.
The PCB came out with a sharp response, saying that Shah’s comment could damage cricketing ties between India and Pakistan and would also consider pulling out of the ODI World Cup scheduled to be held in the second half of 2023 in India if the former decides not to travel to Pakistan. Amidst all this, Rohit Sharma was asked about the ongoing situation ahead of the India vs Pakistan Super 12 T20 World Cup match and the Indian skipper said that the respective boards will take the call.
“My view is that we are focusing on this World Cup because it is important for us. We are not worried about what happens later. There is no point in thinking about it, BCCI will decide that. We are just thinking about focusing on tomorrow’s match ,” Rohit said at the pre-match press conference in Melbourne on Saturday.
Reacting to the PCB considering a possible withdrawal from the next edition of the ODI World Cup in India, Union Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Anurag Thakur confirmed that there were no threats to India’s hosting rights and that they were in no position to listen to anyone. India and Pakistan have not played a bilateral series for almost a decade. The last time they played one was in 2012-13 when Pakistan toured India for three ODIs. Since. the two sides have only met in ICC tournaments and Asia Cups.
In this year’s Asia Cup, India and Pakistan played twice, one by India and the other by Pakistan. Sunday’s World Cup match will be the third T20I between the arch-rivals in 2022. However, there is a threat of rain lurking in the much-anticipated clash. “When you look back on it, the hurling becomes a bit important when there’s a threat of rain. But then again, I’ve been hearing about the weather in Melbourne for a while, it keeps changing. You don’t know what’s going to happen.” what happens tomorrow, whatever is in our power, we will try to take care of it. when the game is reduced, 10 overs each or 5 overs each. Fortunately, we played a match in India where it was 8-over,” said Rohit.
Talking about playing Pakistan, Rohit said, “I don’t want to use the word pressure, but it is constant. It will never change. I would like to take it as a challenge. This Pakistan team is a very tough team.” all the pakistani teams i played against from 2007 to 2022 were good team. I believe that is the case on that particular day. On that particular day, if you are good enough, you will defeat any opposition. And the day you’re good, you win and go home. Pakistan were good in the last World Cup, they beat us.’
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