Asia Cup 2018: India's Expected Line-up 

After India's series against England, the Asia Cup is the next event on their calendar. Despite the fact that Virat Kohli has been rested, with less than a year to go for the much awaited ICC Cricket World Cup, every ODI match until then holds great significance.

Further, India's second match against Pakistan is sure to excite many fans, especially in light of India's heavy defeat at the hands of their rivals in last year's Champions Trophy Final.

Here is the expected line-up of the Indian team.

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#1 Openers: Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan

India's extremely successful opening pair in recent years Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, who have been named the captain and vice-captain of this squad respectively, are certain to play in the match-up against Pakistan. Even though KL Rahul has been named in the squad, it is clear that he will have to vie for a spot in the middle-order as the openers are certain not to change.

While Sharma has been dropped from the Test team and Dhawan has looked rather lackluster in his performances in England, both of them are proven match-winners in limited overs cricket and are certainly a big part of India's plans at next year's tournament. Further, with India's vulnerability to collapses against left-arm seamers, most notably against Mohammed Amir in the Champions Trophy 2017 Final, it will be interesting to see how the two openers negotiate with him in the match-up.

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