Asia Cup 2018: SWOT Analysis of the Indian Team
The prestigious Asia Cup is upon us.
The 14th edition of the Asia Cup is scheduled to be played at the United Nations Emirates soil from September 15th to 28th. The defending champions India will be competing against 5 other nations to continue their reign. Unlike the last Asia Cup, this time the competing format will be ODI cricket.
India features in Group A with their arch-rivals Pakistan and the side which will win the ongoing Asia Cup qualifiers (final match on 6th Sept) to earn an opportunity to compete in the prestigious tournament. Group B features Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
India’s opening clash is scheduled to be against the qualifier-winning team on Sept 18th. The following day is a much-awaited game as India will be taking on Pakistan on Sept 19th at Dubai.
After some dismal performances by India in the ODI series and the ongoing Test series against England, India has a great chance to regain the momentum the team had earlier captured when it had won the Nidahas Trophy and the T20 series against Ireland and England earlier this year. India will enter the tournament as the defending champions which is a great advantage to have ahead of this tournament.
The Indian squad for the Asia Cup 2018 has already been announced. Rohit Sharma will don the skippers hat as the regular skipper Virat Kohli was rested for the tournament.
Here's the announced 16-member squad.
Rohit Sharma (c), Shikhar Dhawan (vc), MS Dhoni (wk), KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur and Khaleel Ahmed.
#1 Strengths
This squad consists of a number of extremely talented and dangerous batsmen who are more than capable of decimating the opposition from the get-go. Under the leadership of the prolific right-hander Rohit Sharma, the side features specialist batsmen like Shikhar Dhawan, MS Dhoni and KL Rahul who can decimate the strongest of bowling attacks.
Manish Pandey and Ambati Rayudu, both are in tremendous form and have scored runs in the domestic circuit to make their respective comebacks. They have played a number of games for India before and have done well on numerous occasions. All-rounders Hardik Pandya and Kedar Jadhav are capable enough to strike big down the order.
The UAE generally features spin-friendly pitches which is great for India as the wrist-spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav can wreak havoc with their precise lengths and variations. Jasprit Bumrah has delivered quite well against England so far and with the comeback of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, the Indian pace department is complete and ready to give the oppositions some hard times at the crease.
These two fine pacers, working as a team, are well regarded for their abilities with the new ball as well as at the death overs. With them hunting as a duo, it will certainly won't be good news for any opposition.