Asia Cup 2018: 2 things India would want to achieve from this series

The cricket juggernaut rolls on for Team India. After a tiring and long tour of England and Wales, they will be headed to the UAE for the Asia Cup. There is just a gap of a week between the end of the Test series in England and the start of the Asia Cup.

There certainly would be player’s burnout, and possibly even viewers would also not show that much of an interest in this series as it’s been scheduled rather haphazardly. But such is the nature of the way the modern games are scheduled, and one hopes this series would have some entertaining and close encounters.

India are the current Asia Cup holders and most certainly would want to retain that trophy in their trophy cabinet. The last installment of the Asia Cup was in the T20I format where India defeated the hosts Bangladesh at the Sher-E-Bangla Stadium, Mirpur by eight wickets.

Keeping the fact that the ICC Cricket World Cup is nine months away, and with India left with 23 ODIs to play before the biggest tournament in the ODI format starts, India would want to use the Asia Cup as a platform to solve some issues that’s been plaguing them.

With the workload and the recent injury scares, Virat Kohli has been rested for the Asia Cup. Rohit Sharma will lead a well-balanced Indian team when they start their title defence on September 18, 2018.

Here’s looking at what India would want to achieve from the Asia Cup, 2018.

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#1 An end to the number 4 position dilemma

India have been plagued with the issue of who to play at the important number 4 position slot for a very long time. Numerous players like MS Dhoni, KL Rahul, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey have been tried but to no avail.

This tournament gives them a chance to decide on one player who can handle the responsibility and persist with that batsman right up to the World Cup. There has been far too much chopping and changing, it’s time the selectors and the team management decide on one player and provide him adequate support.

Looking at India’s recent performances in the ODI format, it certainly is a good idea to have the experience of MS Dhoni at the number 4 position. With MSD taking a lot of balls to get himself in nowadays and with the likes of Dinesh Karthik and Hardik Pandya lower down the order, it seems a good move to play MSD in that position leading to the World Cup, 2019.

To his credit MS Dhoni has had a successful run at the number 4 position- 1230 runs in 27 matches at an average of 55.40 with one hundred and 11 fifties. With MSD taking too much time to get going, he would cripple the innings if he comes in at his usual number 6 position.

With the selectors clearly stating that the stalwart is most definitely in their plans for the World Cup, it’s high time they assign a fixed responsibility to him and stick with that decision. He would add solidity to the middle order and would allow the likes of Dinesh Karthik, Kedhar Jadhav and Hardik Pandya to come in and express themselves.

#2 Their bench strength performing well ahead of the World Cup

Team India

With a heavy burden on his shoulders and with some injury niggles, regular skipper Virat Kohli has been rested for the upcoming Asia Cup. As a result, Rohit Sharma will lead India for this tournament.

This gives the team an ideal opportunity to test their bench strength and ensure all the missing pieces of their puzzle as far as team combination is concerned. A large proportion of India’s success in the ODI format in recent times has come from the performance of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli with the bat and the success of their spin duo- Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal.

Without Virat Kohli at number 3, other batsmen would have to put their hands up and deliver. It’s one aspect of their ODI game that has ailed them for a while. The middle order has been too fragile, minimizing all the good work done by the top order.

Far too many batsmen have been tried in the middle-order with limited access. The return of talented batsmen like Manish Pandey, Ambati Rayudu and Kedhar Jadhav surely would bolster the middle-order. It’s up to the team management to see which batting position suits these batsmen.

As suggested earlier, playing MS Dhoni as the fulcrum at number 4 position would be beneficial in the long run. India could play Ambati Rayudu at number 3, followed by MSD, KL Rahul, Kedhar Jadhav/ Dinesh Karthik and Hardik Pandya. This makes the team look solid and there is hitting ability in each of the batsmen, which is required in ODIs.

As far as their bowling is concerned, India would want Bhuvneshwar Kumar who is returning to the team after an injury layoff to perform well and reclaim his role as the leader of the bowling unit. He will have the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Shradul Thakur for support.

The chief of selectors MSK Prasad mentioned the one area that they are looking to address is of having a left arm fast bowler in the squad, which would variety. In that regard, young speedster Khaleel Ahmed has been fast-tracked into the Indian team.

It certainly would be interesting to see how he would operate, and he has piped Umesh Yadav and Siddharth Kaul, so he seems to be in contention to be named in the squad for the World Cup.

Overall, sans Virat Kohli this team looks formidable on paper. If everyone plays up to their potential then India won’t find it hard to defend their Asia Cup title.