Asia Cup 2023: We haven't been at our best, admits Rohit Sharma after Nepal win

Rohit Sharma admitted India haven’t been at their best in the first two matches of the Asia Cup. The Indian cricket team captain added that the side needs to improve going into the Super 4 stage of the tournament. India’s first match of the Asia Cup, against Pakistan, was washed out after one innings. In the second, India beat Nepal on Monday by 10 wickets under the Duckworth-Lewis method after rain had interrupted play once again. “We haven’t been at our best, but a few guys are coming out after months out of the game. Once we move ahead in the Super Fours, there’s no room for complacency,” Rohit said at the post-match presentation. “First game, under pressure, Hardik and Ishan got us into a good position. Today our bowling was okay, but fielding was below-par.” Nepal had initially scored 230 runs but India faced a revised target of 145 runs from 23 overs following the downpour. Rohit and Shubman Gill got the job done with scores of 74 and 67 runs respectively. “To start with, there were some nerves, but once I got my eye in, I wanted to cash in and get my team home,” said Rohit. Asia Cup acts as a final fix-up for five of the six teams who will then move on to the World Cup. India, the World Cup hosts, are one of them and squad for the mega event will be announced on Tuesday (5 September). “When we came here, in the back of our mind we knew what our (World Cup) 15 would look like, except maybe one or two spots. “We can’t really look too much into these two games, one was washed out, but luckily we got to bat in the first game and bowl in this one,” said Rohit. Gill said he and Rohit complemented each other during their unbroken 147-run stand. “Quite disappointed with the way I got out day before yesterday. Important that I finished it off tonight with Rohit bhai, and we did it,” he said. “He (Rohit) likes to take the bowlers on aerial, and I like to hit more boundaries than sixes, so we complement each other.” On Nepal’s bowling, he said, “They bowled very well with the new ball, they challenged us. We knew once the ball gets wet, it’ll get easier for the batsmen. That’s what the talk was in the dressing room.” Nepal captain Rohit Paudel said his side were 30-40 runs short with the bat. “Our openers did a very good job for us. In the middle order we could have done better. We were maybe 30-40 short. If we had done better in that phase, we could have got 260-270,” Paudel said. “In the last 4-5 months our lower order has done a great job, we are very proud of them. I think in these conditions it was really hard because of the dew, but our bowlers did really well.”