Asia Cup 2018: 3 reasons why India won the tournament
Before India departed for UAE for their campaign to defend the Asia Cup, there was a sense of skepticism amongst Indian fans over the non-inclusion of India's best batsman Virat Kohli. The selectors decided to rest Kohli considering his workload. Also, prior to this tournament, Pakistan had been having a flawless record in UAE, having won all their matches in their adopted home ground since 2016.
Additionally, Team India last played in UAE more than a decade ago which meant that the current bunch of players were unaware of the conditions on offer in the UAE while the Pakistan team had been playing regularly in UAE and were well aware of the conditions and were also accustomed to playing in the UAE heat. Even the Sri Lankans were well acclimatized to the hot conditions in UAE by virtue of having played against Pakistan there. Considering these facts and also taking into account a resurgent Bangladesh team, it was felt that team India would be having a hard time in UAE.
However, brushing aside all the skepticism and criticisms, Rohit Sharma's men emerged unscratched from the tournament to emerge victoriously and win 2 Asia Cup trophies in succession. Here we have a look at 3 reasons why India won the Asia Cup 2018.
#1 Solid opening stands
The importance of a solid opening partnership can never be understated, especially in a prestigious multi-team tournament like the Asia Cup. It's the openers who provide a strong foundation for the rest of the team to build upon.
India's openers provided team India with the perfect base in the Asia Cup that set up the foundation for India's victory. Both Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma were incredible in their roles as openers and took the attack to the opposition bowlers. While Dhawan was the player of the tournament having amassed 342 runs, skipper Rohit was not to be left far behind, scoring 317 runs at an average of 105.67.
In contrast, India's middle order was found to be vulnerable. While MS Dhoni is desperately out of form, Dinesh Karthik threw his wicket away after having provided a brisk start, especially in the final and in the dead rubber vs Afghanistan. Rayudu too floundered in the final. Both Rohit and Dhawan understood the drawbacks of India's middle order and ensured that they provided the best possible starts.