Asia Cup 2018: Positives, Grey Areas and Ratings For Team India
After Team India’s successful Asia Cup campaign, it is now time for the team to introspect and identify the positives and grey areas.
Positives
The form of the Indian opening batsmen
Both the Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan were in tremendous form throughout the Asia Cup. Dhawan finished the Asia Cup as the top scorer with 342 runs in 5 innings at an average of 68. Dhawan scored two hundreds, against Hong Kong and Pakistan. The only time he failed was in the final.
Shikhar Dhawan came into the Asia Cup after a disappointing tour of England. The moment he set his eyes on the white ball, his fortunes changed dramatically. Suddenly he started timing the ball beautifully and Dhawan’s sheepish smile and thigh pats were back. Dhawan was comfortable both against pace and spin. He formed a formidable opening partnership for India with Rohit Sharma.
On a scale of 1 to 10, Dhawan gets a rating of 8.
Rohit Sharma had a break before coming into the Asia Cup. It seemed the break from International cricket had done him a world of good. He was a little rusty in his first match against Hong Kong. However, he got back into form with a fifty against Pakistan. He followed that up with innings of 83 not out, 111 not out and 48 in the final. He finished the tournament with an aggregate of 317 runs at an average of 105.
Apart from his batting, Rohit Sharma impressed one and all with his leadership qualities. His bowling changes were spot on and he was quite composed on the field. The only time he seemed to be rattled was in the final when the Bangladesh opening batsmen took on the Indian bowlers. At that stage, Rohit cleverly brought on Kedar Jadhav who gave him the breakthrough. The moment the opening partnership was broken, Rohit took control over the proceedings.
For his terrific batting and remarkable leadership, Rohit Sharma certainly deserves 9 out of 10.