4 Reasons why India start as favourites in Asia Cup
Asia Cup commences in a couple of weeks times in UAE. It would provide a good opportunity for the Asian nations to get their combinations right before the World Cup 2019.
Going by the ICC rankings and even their recent form in overseas tours, India start as overwhelming favorites to win the Asia Cup. Arch-rivals Pakistan would look to spoil the Indian party and try to repeat their heroics of Champions Trophy.
India needs to watch out for Afghanistan and Bangladesh as well. They are more than capable of springing a surprise or two. Bangladesh had a decent outing in West Indies where they won the T20 series. Afghanistan already has a couple of T20 series win under their belt going into this tournament. They would heavily bank on their spin-duo of Rashid and Mujeeb.
Let us see the reason why Indians start as firm favorites in this Asia Cup.
Explosive Opening Pair
India has arguably one of the best opening pairs in world cricket. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are capable of bludgeoning any attack. They would relish batting in UAE which would offer flat and placid wicket.
Both of them are a fierce striker of the cricket ball which means there is no respite for the opening bowlers from either end. Rohit has a penchant for scoring big hundreds and his three double hundreds are a testament to the same. His partner in crime, Dhawan has a habit of striking it big in multi-nation tournaments.