Former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif feels that India captain Rohit Sharma should announce India’s playing XI for Asia Cup 2022 much beforehand. He also said that such a move would instil a strong belief among the core players. He also added that this move will give a strong message that Team India are ready to avenge the 10-wicket loss to Pakistan that they had suffered in the ICC T20 World Cup.

Speaking to Sony Sports Network, he said: “This is not about playing mind games. I request Rohit Sharma to make a statement, that this is our playing XI. Good luck to all the players. Let’s win this Asia Cup. We have to win and defeat Pakistan as it is a big tournament. We’ve lost to them in the T20 World Cup. We are going ahead with a plan.”

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“The biggest thing is that [India] should announce their playing XI in a couple of days. Rohit Sharma should step up and say that this is my XI (except in case of any injury). Last year, Pakistan announced their XI a day earlier, but we waited for the toss and only made the decision after looking at the ground and conditions,” Mohammad Kaif further added.

A veteran of 125 ODIs, Mohammad Kaif felt that announcing the playing XI in advance will give a strong message to the opposition that the Indian team is here to win the Asia Cup 2022. He shared that the move will give clarity to the players as well. India will begin their Asia Cup campaign against Pakistan on August 28 in Dubai as well.

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India squad for the Asia Cup: Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan.

Standby Players: Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar and Axar Patel.