Watch: How Rohit Sharma is preparing for Shaheen Afridi threat ahead of Asia Cup 2023

India captain Rohit Sharma is leaving no stone unturned to prepare for the danger Pakistan’s left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi poses. India will be facing Pakistan in their Asia Cup 2023 campaign opener on 2 September and Afridi will be looking to wreak havoc against India’s top-order batters who have been susceptible to left-arm fast bowling in the past.

In the 2021 T20 World Cup, Afridi removed openers Rohit and KL Rahul inside the first three overs before later dimissing Virat Kohli. In the 2017 Champions Trophy final, another left-arm pacer, Mohammad Amir, dismissed top 3 Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit, and Kohli inside the first nine overs.

To be ready for the Afridi challenge during the Asia Cup, Rohit batted for long in the nets against left-arm pacer Aniket Choudhary during Day 3 of India’s camp in Alur. Choudhary has played in 75 first-class, 34 List A, and 72 T20 matches, but is yet to make his India debut.

He has also been part of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) in IPL.

Aniket Choudhary might be low on experience but he will give Rohit a good idea of how to play deliveries from a different angle. A fact that was also acknowledged by former India team batting coach Sanjay Bangar while speaking on Star Sports.

The former India cricketer said that Rohti could look to score through the mid-on and mid-wicket area against Afridi.

“One doesn’t get much 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 batsman because when a left-arm bowler bowls from close to the stumps and brings it inwards towards the right hand batsman. 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,” Bangar said.

The batsman 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 all aspects the batsman needs to focus more. So, during practice Rohit would have been focusing on these areas,” Bangar added.