Asia Cup 2022: 3 big headaches facing India leading up to the tournament
In the lead-up to the Asia Cup, India have played 21 T20 internationals and this is the most any side has played this year. One of the big focus areas for India has been managing the workload of players and giving a run to a number of fringe players.
As far as numbers are concerned, India have tried as many as 27 players in this format. However, the usual suspects are back for the Asia Cup and India will now give a fair run to these players as they build up to the T20 World Cup slated to be held in Australia in October this year.
There has been a concerted effort to change their approach as aggression has been the mantra ever since they were knocked out at the last T20 World Cup. A few questions remain for the side to be answered, and the Asia Cup could be the place where they can be answered.
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How many will they win this year? 🤔
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#3 Bowling composition
Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of the competition, while Arshdeep Singh's stocks have increased. As per reports and the current trend, Mohammed Shami's days in this shortest format are done and hence, the focus will be on this relatively new bowling attack.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the leader of the attack and has to the guide younger bowlers, Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan. Since IPL 2021, Arshdeep's economy rate in death overs is 8.50. In this season's IPL, Arshdeep's economy in the death overs is 7.58, and it is the second-best after Jasprit Bumrah's 7.38.
Avesh Khan should consider himself lucky to be in the squad and Deepak Chahar, who made his comeback in the recent ODI series against Zimbabwe, showed his class in the first match.
How this bowling attack stands up when the pressure is amped up and this could well be the template of the attack when they head across to Australia.
#2 India's lower order batting
Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Virat Kohli will be the top three batters for the Asia Cup. Captain Rohit Sharma has already made it clear that the side wants to keep pressing on the aggressive issues.
"We made it very clear after the T20 World Cup in Dubai, where we didn't qualify, that there needs to be a change in attitude and approach to how we play," Rohit Sharma told Star Sports recently.
India’s captains in the Asia Cup through the years 🌟🇮🇳
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Suryakumar Yadav will be the perfect batter at number 4, but the major questions that follow come after his batting number. Rishabh Pant has not yet cemented his spot as the wicket-keeper batter in this format.
Dinesh Karthik has been selected as a finisher, and his role is quite clear. Hardik Pandya's inclusion adds balance to the side, but there will be doubts over the inclusion of Ravindra Jadeja owing to his rather mediocre run with the ball.
India also have Deepak Hooda and Axar Patel as the perfect backup for Jadeja, and both these players have evolved over the past 12 months.
#1 India's spin stocks in the Asia Cup
India have included Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, and Deepak Hooda as their spinners for this tournament. While Chahal is sure to start against Pakistan, questions lie over the second spinner in the side.
Ashwin has proven to be frugal since his comeback to the T20I side, but the selectors will be keen to add more depth to their batting and this could tilt the scales in favor of Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel.
However, Ashwin will be the perfect accomplice to Chahal's leg-spin and this predicament will not be an easy one to decipher for the management.