India will be the hot favourites to win the Asia Cup title in September. The defending Champions are clubbed with Pakistan, Oman, and UAE in Group A and will kick off the campaign against the UAE on September 9 at the Dubai International Stadium.
India are among the top teams in the world and expected to step in with a full-strength squad. Beating them will take a hell of an effort from other teams, including .
India’s Strongest Playing XI For Asia Cup
has confirmed availability for the Asia Cup, and Suryakumar Yadav has cleared the fitness test. Both should find a place in the squad. Shubman Gill is also on BCCI’s radar for the Asia Cup. There are talks about Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shreyas Iyer as well, but given the stiff competition and the decent showing by the youngsters in previous series, they are likely to be snubbed.
India’s strongest XI could see Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma open the innings, followed by Shubman Gill at three and Suryakumar Yadav at four. Tilak Varma could play at five, with Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, and Axar Patel at six, seven, and eight, respectively. Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, and Kuldeep Yadav or Arshdeep Singh could be the specialist bowlers in the side. Given that Abhishek Sharma could also chip in with a few overs, India could go in with five bowlers, including two all-rounders in Axar and Hardik, who are very capable of bowling four overs. The combination will provide tremendous batting depth to the side.
What Is India’s Schedule For The Asia Cup?
India will open the campaign against the UAE on September 9 before playing Pakistan on September 14. The final league game will be against Oman on September 19. India should qualify for the Super 4s, where they will meet other qualified teams in the round robin format, and the top two teams in the Super 4s will play the final.
India Strongest Playing XI: Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav/Arshdeep Singh.