Team India will be defending its title in the Asia Cup and they will be commencing their campaign against Hong Kong on September 18 at Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Rohit Sharma will be leading the squad in the absence of Virat Kohli and the men in blue are touted as among the firm favorites to win the multi-nation tournament in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

On the very next day after their series opener, India will be locking horns with their arch-rivals Pakistan at the same venue. The match is deemed to be the most intensified one in the tournament. In the meantime, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has sent five bowlers, who recently played for India ‘A’, to help the team out.

Three fast-bowlers- Avesh Khan, Siddarth Kaul and M Prasidh Krishna along with the spinners – Mayank Markande and Shahbaz Nadeem have been called to bowl in the net sessions for the next three days. A BCCI official updated about the same as per reports in Scroll.in.

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A BCCI official asserted, “Not everywhere do you get quality net bowlers and it becomes a problem for the senior team during practice sessions. With back to back games, you don’t expect a Bhuvneshwar Kumar or a Jasprit Bumrah to bowl flat out at the nets. Also, the young academy bowlers at times can’t provide quality practice. Hence we have got some of our next line of bowlers.”

Among the five, seamer Kaul has already made his international debut in the limited-overs series during India’s tour of England. Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem is a veteran campaigner and has been plying his trade in India’s domestic circuit ever since 2004.

Markande hogged to limelight by picking up some massive wickets in the start of this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL). Prasidh Krishna and Khan also did reasonably well in the T20 event.