Asia Cup 2018: 3 main areas of concern for India

When the schedule for the 2018 edition of the Asia Cup was announced, quite a few Indian eyebrows were raised as Rohit Sharma's men were asked to play two ODIs in two days in Dubai, where playing conditions are far from pleasant. Hence, both the fans and the team were thinking of wrapping up the first tie against an unknown Hong Kong as quickly as possible.

Who'd have known that Anshuman Rath's boys had other plans? Not only did Hong Kong extract every bit of skill from the Indian players, they once reached a point where the optimists were sensing the miracle of the decade in the making. However, that was not to be, as chasing a target of 286, Hong Kong came agonizingly close and lost by a margin of 26 runs.

Though India managed to keep miracle at bay, they have a lot to ponder in a very short of span of time. The favourites to win the tournament made quite a few crucial errors, which might not mean much against Hong Kong, but can prove costly against Pakistan. Before the highly awaited clash of the rivals, let us look at three major concerns for India:

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#3 Losing wickets in clusters

Experienced players like Dinesh Karthik must anchor the innings

Though Hong Kong's bowlers were anything but threatening, with pacers barely hitting the 120kmph mark and spinners unable to turn the bowl a considerable lot, Indian batters must prevent their tendency of losing wickets in clusters. After Rohit Sharma's early dismissal, Shikhar Dhawan and Ambati Rayudu built a great partnership.

But the 'fell apart like nine pins' phrase will be applicable when Shikhar Dhawan got out. The opener batted till the 41st over and set up a good platform for the middle order to capitalize, but in the blink of an eye, Hong Kong picked up three wickets. Not insignificant ones, but three big wickets in Dhawan, Dinesh Karthik and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. That gave Hong Kong the momentum and restricted India to 285, while they were once looking on course for comfortably over 300.

#2 Bhuvneshwar Kumar's form

Kumar went wicket-less on his comeback

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is undoubtedly one of India's key players in this tournament. The master of swing was badly missed in the English conditions, but a fully fit Kumar was returning to the Indian side after a long time and expectedly so, all eyes for on him. Against a batting line up that found Pakistani pacers too hot to handle, Indian fans expected 'Bhuvi' to wrap up the game as quickly as possible.

To the surprise of everyone, the 28-year-old could not manage to get his name on the wicket-takers' list, despite bowling nine overs. In addition to that, he conceded 50 runs at an average of nearly six runs per over, second to only Shardul Thakur amongst Indian bowlers, and Thakur had a game to forget. Kumar's form is certainly a concern for the Indian team, and fans hope he will be back in his usual form against Pakistan.

#1 The dreaded overs at the death

Dhoni failed to get off the mark against Hong Kong

The main area of concern that almost everyone will be highlighting after today's match will be the death overs. It seems as if the Indian innings starts approaching a slow death with the dawn of the death overs, as the middle and lower order batters fail to keep the scoreboard ticking. Having crossed the 250-run mark in the 43rd over and with five wickets in hand, a 300+ score looked easily achievable.

However, they could only manage a meagre 285. Only 17 runs came from the last four overs, as everyone struggled to get going. Kedar Jadhav amassed 28 runs from 27 deliveries while Bhuvneshwar Kumar ate up 18 deliveries just to add nine runs to the scoreboard. Two batsmen were dismissed for a duck, one among them is considered as one of the best finishers of this era - Mahendra Singh Dhoni. If this instance is repeated any further in this tournament, it is going to haunt India for a long time.