Asia Cup: No concerns over Pakistani pacers

India will focus on its own strengths like batting and spin bowling in today's Asia Cup T20 tie in Mirpur, says key batsman Rohit Sharma

Fatullah: He has transformed himself from 'Mr Inconsistent' to 'Mr Dependable' in the shorter formats and Indian batsman Rohit Sharma on Friday said it has been possible because of the backing that he has got from the team management.

India's Suresh Raina (extreme left), Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane during a training session at the Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium in Fatullah yesterday. Pic/AFP

Few years back, the Indian team management was criticised regularly when Rohit had a string of low scores but Dhoni's faith in the Mumbai batsman's ability has been unshakable.

"If any individual knows that he has the backing of the team, that's when he opens up and expresses himself better — gets the performance going," Rohit told mediapersons on the eve of India's Asia Cup T20 match against arch-rivals Pakistan.

All set for challenge

"For us also, we have been playing with the squad for a while which shows that we have a good bunch, which is ready to take up the challenge at any given point of time. That's a good sign and we are very proud of that," said Rohit.

Rohit feels the Indian team will focus on their core strength, which is batting rather than think about Pakistan's four-pronged pace attack.

"Yes, they have a formidable bowling attack but we would want to concentrate more on our strengths and prepare our plans accordingly. Our strength is batting and depending on the wicket we will have to focus on that. Every team has its own specialities. They have good left-arm seamers in their armoury while we have better spinners."

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