Asia Cup a rehearsal for 2019 World Cup: Rohit Sharma

India’s stand-in captain Rohit Sharma feels that the Asia Cup beginning on Saturday will be a good opportunity to achieve a, “perfect combination” for the World Cup, which is still eight months away.

The top-three batsmen in India’s line-up is set with Rohit, Dhawan and Virat Kohli owning the spots. But they are yet to decide on a perfect middle-order combination.

Rohit, while answering that whether the Asia Cup would be a build-up to the World Cup next year, said, “In a way, you can say that. Every team wants to go to the World Cup in a good frame of mind. But we shouldn’t be looking too far ahead. Obviously, the Asia Cup gives every team an opportunity to get the combination right before the World Cup.”

With the World Cup in mind, Rohit would still prefer to take one match at a time.“I won’t understand how Angie (Angelo Mathews), Sarfraz (Ahmed) or Mashrafe (Mortaza) are looking at it and what their strengths and weaknesses are. But as the tournament progresses, we will understand what the teams are doing.

“The World Cup is too far ahead. We will play a lot of games before that. A lot of players will get an opportunity to stake a claim for a berth in that World Cup squad. It’s a great opportunity to try for that perfect combination,” the right-hander added, as quoted by the Deccan Chronicle.

India kick-start their Asia Cup campaign against debutants Hong Kong on September 18 and after a day, the men in blue would square up against arch-rivals Pakistan.

But Rohit downplayed the hype surrounding the match, saying that it’s a matter of just one match.

“Pakistan have played some great cricket of late and we are looking forward to that clash. However, by no means I am saying that focus should be on one game as all the games that are going to be played over here will be quite competitive,” said Rohit.

“The focus should be on the whole tournament because every nation is eyeing that title. Also for the first time, I am captaining in a full tournament and it’s exciting for me personally,” he added.

Also read: Asia Cup 2018: Rohit Sharma excited to lead in his first full tour