The recent reports have suggested that the Indian selection committee head by MSK Prasad will be finalizing the Indian squad for the Asia Cup 2018, there main focus for that will be managing the Indian skipper Virat Kohli’s workload along with finding an apt candidate for the middle-order slots, especially no.4.
The questions of managing the workload of the crucial players are arising because of the fact that the men in blue will be entering the tournament after a grueling two and half month tour of UK. Because of the fact that Team India will be facing their arch-rivals Pakistan in the league stages, there is no doubt about the fact that the crucial cogs will not be thinking of having a rest.
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However, Kohli has been facing some issues with his back and the Indian team will be playing six Test matches lined in the next three months (two vs West Indies and four vs Australia), the selectors will be cautious while monitoring Kohli’s workload. The other concern will be fixing the middle-order woes. While Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma select themselves, K.L. Rahul will remain a backup opener or one-down depending on the match situation.
The two batting positions after Virat’s position at no.3 are a bone of contention going into the World Cup next year. Manish Pandey has been going through a great run recently as he remained unbeaten in the recently concluded Quadrangular series, where he led India B to the title, with 306 runs in four games. On the other hand, Ambati Rayudu has passed the controversial Yo-Yo test and scored a few runs for India A as well along with that the mystery player Kedar Jadhav is also fit and his slow off-breaks could be an asset in the UAE conditions.
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Prasad and his committee members will also be facing some tough time if they opt to ignore Mayank Agarwal, who has been making truckload of runs in every other series for Karnataka and India A. He has been a stupendous success across formats, but with Dhawan, Rohit and Rahul already been in the squad, it will be difficult for the selectors to select Agarwal, unless they decide to rest Dhawan, ahead of the home series against Windies.
However, even if Agarwal gets dropped from the Asia Cup squad, there are certain chances that he will get a chance to play against the West Indies at home, where some seniors are expected to get some rest. The bowling department will have Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah leading the attack with Shardul Thakur and Siddarth Kaul fighting for the back-up pacer’s slot along with Umesh Yadav.
With MS Dhoni behind stumps, there are chances that young Rishabh Pant, who has looked far more confident than Dinesh Karthik, may make it as Dhoni’s back-up.
India’s predicted Asia Cup squad:
Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk), Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav.
