Asia Cup 2018: India could look at dropping Chahal for an extra pacer
India played a second-string side against Afghanistan in the penultimate Asia Cup 2018 Super Four encounter in order to test their bench strength and keep them match fit if required. Although the game ended in a tie, it also presented India with a few options for the final on Friday.
KL Rahul finally got a game and although he scored a fifty, he failed to convert it into a match-winning knock, which makes Rohit Sharma's task easy as he is likely to stick with Ambati Rayudu and Dinesh Karthik ahead of him in playing XI.
Manish Pandey was another player who had a golden opportunity to make his mark and book himself a place in the middle-order. When he came out to bat, India required another 110 runs with conditions getting difficult against a world-class spin bowling attack. He had a chance to play a gritty knock to take India home, which might have helped him get into India's playing XI in the finals but it wasn't to be.
Khaleel Ahmed, who impressed everyone in his first International game, was given another chance and he was effective especially during the latter part of Afghanistan innings.
With India playing one of the Pakistan or Bangladesh in the final, they may like to make a change in their playing XI apart from the obvious ones.
Yuzvendra Chahal has not been at his best in this Asia Cup despite having a great start against Hong Kong. India went with Kuldeep-Jadeja combo in the match against Afghanistan, which may also be the story for the finals.
In the last three matches that he has played, Chahal has taken only 2 wickets at an average of 60. Apart from the figures players have played him with ease in the middle overs and have struggled to manage the fast bowlers on the other hand, which might make a case for young Khaleel Ahmed in the final of the Asia Cup.
With India having 3 spin options in the middle order including Kedar Jadhav, they might surprise opposition with this move.