Asia Cup 2018: India's expected playing XI against Bangladesh
Indian team started their Asia cup Journey with two consecutive wins in the League stage. India had to slug it out against the minnows Hong Kong for the victory in their first match, but they came back strongly and defeated their arch-rivals Pakistan in pretty convincing fashion in the final group match.
Going into the next stage, India looks like the favourites for winning the tournament. Openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan have continued their good form in white ball cricket as the former scored a fifty against Pakistan and the latter scored a Century in the first game against Hong Kong.
They will continue to be the pivots of this batting line-up in the absence of the Stalwart Virat Kohli. Ambati Rayudu has performed decently in the two opportunities he got in the tournament so far as he scored a fifty in the opening match and remained unbeaten in the easy chase against Pakistan.
Dinesh Karthik who is playing at the much-debated number 4 position in this tournament, failed to capitalise on the opportunity against Hong Kong but in the second match he rectified his errors and remained unbeaten along with Rayudu to see of the Chase.
MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav have got the opportunity to bat only once and were not so impressive. The bowlers after having relatively tough time against Hong Kong came back well to restrict Pakistan to a below par score.
Also, three players have been injured. So, India will be forced to make changes to their playing XI for the upcoming clash against Bangladesh.
Batsmen and wicketkeeper
Openers - Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan
At number 3 - Ambati Rayudu
At number 4 - Dinesh Karthik
At number 5 - MS Dhoni
At number 6 - Kedar Jadhav
The batting order until number 6 has no issues. The openers are doing their job perfectly and the next two batsmen have finished the game against Pakistan without any hiccups. So, they are certain to retain their spots unless there are any last minute fitness issues. Kedar Jadhav has proved himself as a utility player and in the absence of Hardik Pandya, India will continue to depend on his unorthodox darts.