Asia Cup 2018: Teams, format, squads and everything you need to know
Asian Cricket Council's premier championship Asia Cup returns for its fourteenth edition and is scheduled to run from September 15 till September 28, 2018. Unlike the previous edition, the tournament will revert back to 2006 format and feature six Asian Cricket Teams; India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Hong Kong.
Format: All six teams have been divided into two groups A and B. The top two teams from each group will advance to the Super Four stage and the top two teams from that stage will then compete for the title in the final.
All of the Asia Cup matches will be played across two venues; Dubai International Cricket Stadium and Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium. While In case of Team India, All matches will be played at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, irrespective of their standings in Group or Super four stage.
So without much ado, Let's take an insight look on all six participating teams.
India
Men in Blue have played nine ODIs so far this year, winning six and losing three. India is ranked second in the ICC ODI rankings and is red hot favorites in this tournament. After winning six ODI series in a row, they lost their most recent series against hosts England in July 2018. It was a three-match series which they ended up losing 1-2.
Batting: Skipper Rohit Sharma was India's best batsman after Virat Kohli in the England ODI series and in Kohli's absence the onus will be on him to score curial runs in middle order.
While Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul will perform opening duties and the team will need them to fire from the beginning. MS Dhoni is particularly one of the best finishers in the world will once take responsibility to get India through.
Bowling: Kuldeep Yadav bamboozled the English batsmen and topped the wickets charts with nine wickets in three matches and the wrist-spinner is likely to be the trump card for India in Asia Cup 2018.
While Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Yuzvendra Chahal are the backbone of India's line and Kumar is expected to lead the attack from the front.
Squad : Rohit Sharma (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur and K Khaleel Ahmed.