'The angle is very crucial keeping in mind where...' - Former India cricketer's bold statement on Rohit Sharma ahead of Asia Cup 2023

The 16th edition of the Asia Cup is set to kick off on Wednesday, August 30. The first match of Asia Cup 2023 will be played between Pakistan and Nepal at the Multan Cricket Stadium. India will play their opening game of the tournament against Pakistan on September 2 at the Pallekele International Stadium, in Sri Lanka.

As the Men in Blue prepares for one of the biggest tournaments, former Indian cricketer, Sanjay Bangar stated that Rohit Sharma is facing left-arm pacers in the nets in order to get prepared for his upcoming battle in the tournament against Pakistan's ace bowler, Shaheen Afridi. While speaking on the Star Sports show “Follow The Blues” elaborated on this.

The batters will get a chance to get into a better position: Sanjay Bangar

“One doesn’t get many chances to play from that angle because most of the teams have a right-hand attack and opening bowling pairs. However, the angle is very crucial keeping in mind where you want to play as a batter because when a left-arm bowler bowls from close to the stumps and brings it inwards towards the right-hand batsman,” Bangar was quoted as saying on Star Sports show “Follow The Blues”.

“One should target the bowler, for that, the head position needs to be perfect and one needs to set himself and think of scoring runs between mid-off and mid-on / mid-wicket areas. The batters will get a chance to get into a better position against that angle bowling and one needs to learn and know where runs can be scored against angle bowling and on what aspects the batter needs to focus more. So, during practice, Rohit would have been focusing on these areas,” the former India batting coach asserted.

Asia Cup 2023 Schedule:

• August 30: Pakistan vs Nepal, Multan, 3:30 PM IST
• August 31: Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka, Pallekele, 1:00 PM IST
• September 2: Pakistan vs India, Pallekele, 1:00 PM IST
• September 3: Bangladesh vs Afghanistan, Lahore, 1:30 PM IST
• September 4: India vs Nepal, Pallekele, 1:00 PM IST
• September 5: Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka, Lahore, 3:30 PM IST
• September 6: A1 vs B2, Lahore, 3:30 PM IST
• September 9: B1 vs B2, Colombo, 2:00 PM IST
• September 10: A1 vs A2, Colombo, 2:00 PM IST
• September 12: A2 vs B1, Colombo, 2:00 PM IST
• September 14: A1 vs B1, Colombo, 2:00 PM IST
• September 15: A2 vs B2, Colombo, 2:00 PM IST
• September 17: TBC vs TBC, Colombo, 2:00 PM IST