4 players who need to perform in the Asia Cup for staying in contention for Indian squad

The Board of Control for Cricket in India announced a 16-member squad for Asia Cup on Saturday.

The selection committee headed by MSK Prasad decided to rest the regular captain Virat Kohli as he has been playing non-stop cricket for a long time.

Mumbai batsman, Rohit Sharma has been given the charge to lead the side while the left-handed opener, Shikar Dhawan set as his vice.

There are few new faces in the squad while most have been part of India's ODI side from quite some time. Among them, some players haven't performed to their potential and might be axed from the squad if they didn't prove themselves in Asia Cup. In this slide, we have marked four of them:

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#4 Axar Patel

The Gujrati cricketer, Axar Patel has been in and out of the India squad in ODIs as earlier Ravindra Jadeja was a regular member of the team.

Apart from his left-arm orthodox bowling, the 24 years old, Axar can bat down the order as well. Owning 45 wickets and 181 runs in 38 ODIs, Patel has last played an ODI for India in November 2017.

Following his recent domestic performances, he has been included in India's Asia Cup squad as a third spinner. With a lot of spinners doing well at multiple levels, it would be probably the last chance for Axar to prove himself in ODI cricket.

#3 Dinesh Karthik

Wicket-keeper batsman, Dinesh Karthik has been named as the second wicket-keeper in the squad apart from MS Dhoni.

Karthik made his ODI debut way back in 2004 against England but has played just 80 ODIs so far. Dhoni's entry to India side blocked the way for many wicket-keeper's of the country including Karthik as well.

Though, the Madrasi cricketer didn't give up as he kept knocking the doors till he made a comeback in July 2017.

However, he hasn't done too well in the few chances he has been provided with. He averages 29 in ODI cricket and the upcoming Asia Cup would probably be do-or-die for him, with few young wicket-keeper's waiting in the line.

#2 Kedar Jadhav

33-year-old batsman, Kedar Jadhav is another Indian player who is yet to settle at the highest level. He has appeared for India in 40 ODIs and scored 798 runs with the highest score of 120.

The Pune cricketer made just one run in the 3 matches at South Africa earlier this year, due to which he was dropped from India squad for England ODIs.

However, he has been recalled for Asia Cup owing to his stroke-playing ability. Yet, in order to make sure he cements his place in the team, he will have to prove his critics wrong.

He can get enough chances as there are fewer other middle order batsmen present in India's Asia Cup squad.

#1 KL Rahul

This one might appear as a surprise for many but the Karnataka batsman, Lokesh Rahul hasn't performed consistently in ODI cricket.

There is no denying the fact that Rahul is a skillful cricketer but the 26-year-old has to show some patience to score big runs in ODI cricket.

Rahul has scored mere 37 runs in his last five ODIs, which is making his place in team doubtful.

If he fails to make most of the upcoming Asia Cup, he might lose his place in the team for upcoming events.