India came into the tournament without the services of their regular skipper Virat Kohli that draw questions of their credibility to retain the Asian title. There were lot of questions raised over India’s middle order which has been a bit of concern from the 2015 World Cup. However, the men in blue shut the critics by making a resound statement by beating arch-rivals Pakistan in a one sided affair. They had to sweat it out against Hong Kong, but at last they eked out a win.
India will face Bangladesh in their opening clash of super 4 stage and Rohit Sharma’s team will start as the favourites to register a win. India broke Pakistan’s 9 match winning streak, which they continued from 2016 in UAE. In all the odds, India are now the favourite side to retain the Asia Cup. We put light on 3 of those reasons.
3- The resurgent bowling attack
There were lot of questions raised over the role of Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the team, who was unable to make a mark in the game against Hong Kong. However, the Uttar Pradesh pacer answered in style and picked a man of the match award in the clash against Pakistan, picking 3 crucial runs and giving away just 13 runs in his spell of 7 overs.
Death overs specialist Jasprit Bumrah chipped with 2 wickets in the game against Pakistan and he will have a big role to play.
Kuldeep Yadav has been unreadable for the batters and will be an asset for the Indian team in the upcoming encounters. The return of Ravindra Jadeja may also prove fruitful for India as he can bring his experience into play in the spin friendly conditions of United Arab Emirates.
(Please open the next page from below to read other 2 reasons)
