Asia Cup 2018: 3 Players India must play for the remainder of the tournament
After a long and tiring tour of England & Wales, the Indian cricket team is currently involved in the Asia Cup that is being played in the UAE. A lot of players have come in straight from the tour of England into this series, whereas there are some fresh faces who represent India only in ODIs and T20Is.
The haphazard and bizarre scheduling in this Asia Cup means that the teams are playing back to back games. The itinerary is leaving very little time for players to get physically and mentally fresh. The rather tightly packed tournament has left countries like India and Bangladesh red-faced.
Amidst all this ongoing chaos, India had a real big scare against minnows Hong Kong in their tournament opener. After Shikhar Dhawan’s quick century, the team couldn’t capitalize and then Hong Kong really pushed India to the brinks as they posted a mammoth 174-run opening partnership. India had to toil hard to win the match.
India bounced back the very next day with a clinical team performance against their arch-rivals Pakistan. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Kedhar Jadhav were the chief architects in plotting Pakistan’s downfall.
But in the aftermath of two consecutive games in hot and humid conditions in Dubai, three Indian players were sent back home owing to injury concerns. Shradul Thakur, Axar Patel, and Hardik Pandya have been ruled out of the Asia Cup 2018. They have been replaced by Deepak Chahar, Ravindra Jadeja and Siddharth Kaul for the remainder of the tournament.
With India having comfortably qualified for the Super Four stages of the tournament with two wins, here’s looking at three players who should be played for the remainder of the tournament:
KL Rahul
A player with abundant talent and potential- KL Rahul should have cemented his place in the ODI team by now, but that hasn’t happened. He has been with the squad but has not got enough opportunities to prove himself.
A batsman who was considered mainly a Test match material, proved all his critics wrong with some scintillating performances for Kings XI Punjab(KXIP) in IPL 2018. His ability to strike the ball cleanly, and the fact that he plays both spin and pace equally well makes him an asset to have in any team.
With the likes of Ambati Rayudu and Kedhar Jadhav coming into the side, KL Rahul has been sidelined so far in this Asia Cup. KL Rahul, for starters, can play in place of Shikhar Dhawan in today’s clash against Bangladesh. With more important games coming up Shikhar Dhawan could be rested for this game.
But even during the super four stages of the tournament, there is a strong case for playing KL Rahul in the middle-order. With India looking to lock their team combination ahead of the World Cup, it’s high time KL Rahul gets more opportunities in the playing XI to prove himself.
His career hasn’t been too flashy so far with an average of 32.13 in 11 matches with one hundred. In order to replicate his IPL 2018 magic again, there is no doubt that KL Rahul should be given a spot in this Indian team against Bangladesh and in the Super Four stages of the 2018 Asia Cup.