3 Indian players who might be rested for Asia Cup
After the tour of England gets over, India's next assignment will be the Asia Cup. Asia Cup will be played as a 50-overs competition with six Asian teams taking part. It will be played in the UAE from 15th September. India's match against arch-rivals Pakistan on 19th September will be the most hotly anticipated game of the tournament.
The current batch of Indian players have been playing non-stop cricket for some time now. After a long and demanding IPL season, India played a solitary Test against Afghanistan.
This has been followed by a gruelling 2-month tour of Ireland and England. The tight schedule certainly takes a toll on the players' bodies. Some of these players have been playing all three formats for India and don't get a chance to recuperate.
Moreover, there is no respite for the Indian team after the Asia Cup also, with tours to Australia and New Zealand being in line. Keeping in mind next year's World Cup, the selectors will want to manage the workload of these Indian players.
Also, they will want to try out other players with an aim of finalising the final 15 for England in 2019. Thus, the selectors might rest a few players for the Asia Cup. We will look at 3 such players who can be afforded a rest for the upcoming Asia Cup:
#3 Shikhar Dhawan
Shikhar Dhawan has been playing non-stop cricket for some time now. While a lot of star players were rested for the Nidahas trophy in Sri Lanka, he didn't have that luxury.
After playing a full season of IPL for Sunrisers Hyderabad, the left-hander also played against Afghanistan on their debut Test. On the tour of England, he has been part of the Indian team in most of the matches.
The southpaw played crucial knocks in both the innings at Trent Bridge and is likely to feature in the last two Tests as well. The selectors might rest Dhawan, giving the likes of KL Rahul a longer run in the ODI side. They might also include other promising openers like Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal.