After having an inconsiderate start to their campaign against Hong Kong, the Indian team hasn’t looked back since then in the ongoing Asia Cup as they outplayed most of their opponents in the tournament so far. With the win against Pakistan in their second Super 4 encounter, Rohit Sharma and his men have now sealed their birth in the finals and hence, a number of changes are expected in their final Super 4 clash against Afghanistan which was resulted in a tie. Now, the Indian team is all set to face Bangladesh in the final of Asia Cup 2018 on Friday.
Rohit Sharma will be back in action in the summit clash along with him, Shikhar Dhawan, his deputy, will also be back in the playing XI. Both the players took a rest for the dead-rubber against Afghanistan, where MS Dhoni led a second string team in a contest that ended in a tie. Against the Afghans, chasing a target of 253, India managed a score of 252.
Including Rohit and Dhawan, all other regular players are expected to be making a comeback in the playing XI. India made as many as five changes for the tie against Afghanistan and all the five players are expected to be back in action. Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah were the other three players who were rested.
ALSO READ: Indian Kid Cried After The Tied Game
Siddharth Kaul, KL Rahul, Khaleel Ahmed, Manish Pandey walked in the playing XI along with Deepak Chahar, who made ODI debut after receiving a cap from the head coach Ravi Shastri before the start of the match. All the five incoming players will have to walk out in the final.
KL Rahul, though impressed with an innings of 60, would most likely miss out as Rohit and Dhawan are already present in the team for the opening job and the Karnataka-born batsman, hence, doesn’t have a place in the playing XI. Skipper Rohit will have the responsibility to defend the trophy that India won in 2016 under the leadership of MS Dhoni. The previous tournament was played in a T20 format in Bangladesh.
Predicted XI for the Indian team:
Rohit Sharma (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal
