India will be eyeing to defend their Asian title without their middle order maestro and captain Virat Kohli. There will be some returning faces in the team who will be lead by Rohit Sharma. There has been a huge debate on the pre-tournament favourites and majority of the cricket experts claim Pakistan to be the overwhelming favourite to lift the title in their home away from home. Sourav Ganguly has now donned the hat and had his own say at the tournament favourites. Also read: Sunil Gavaskar predicts the overwhelming favourite to win Asia Cup 2018
“India could not do that well in England but in limited overs they are a top side. Team is much stronger with Virat but Rohit has a very good record as captain so I expect him to do well too. They are capable of winning (the Asia Cup),” said Ganguly.
India will start their campaign against minnows Hong Kong on 18th September followed by a crunch game against Pakistan on the very next day.
There will be extra pressure on the middle order with returning faces like Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Ambati Rayudu and out of form Dinesh Karthik fighting to cement their place in the team.
India’s history in the tournament
India are the most successful team in the Asia Cup with 13 trophies in their cabinet. They won the inaugural edition of the tournament in 1984.
India are the defending champions currently, having won the tournament in 2016, which was played in the T20 format for the very first time.
India 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, K Khaleel Ahmed
