Asia Cup 2018: India's predicted XI to face Hong Kong
One of the most anticipated clashes of the Asia Cup 2018 is India taking on Pakistan and both these team could face each other as many as three times, once in the Group stage, once in Super Four and once in the final.
The first match between the two teams, which is the confirmed fixture, will be played at the Dubai international stadium on September 19 and both the teams will look to give their 110% and win the match against their arch-rivals.
India will be handicapped by the fact that they will be playing Hong Kong a day before the clash against Pakistan and the players could be burnt out for the all-important clash. So, one can expect the Indian team management to go in with a second-string side for the Hong Kong clash.
Let us take a look at how India could line up for their Asia Cup 2018 opener against Hong Kong.
Openers (Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan)
Skipper Rohit Sharma and his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan have been very successful as a pair at the top of the order as they have stitched together a lot of memorable partnerships for India and helped the team win a lot of games in ODIs.
In spite of India playing Pakistan 24 hours after they play Hong Kong, it is likely that both Rohit and his deputy in the Asia Cup, Dhawan, will open the batting for India as they don't have any other batsman for the openers' role as KL Rahul, the only other batsman who is capable of opening the batting, is likely to be given a run in the middle order.
So, there should not be any surprises for the batsmen who will open the batting and both Rohit and Dhawan will look to get some much-needed match practice before they take on Pakistan the next day.
Rohit has been out of action since the ODI series against July and could be rusty while Dhawan has completely looked out of sorts in the Test series against England and will look to redeem himself in the Asia Cup.