Asia Cup 2018: 3 things India should be wary of in the final 

The Rohit Sharma-led Indian team reached the finals of the 2018 Asia Cup in a convincing manner, despite the tie against Afghanistan and a tight encounter against Hong Kong.

In their journey to the final of the tournament, India have crushed Pakistan twice and defeated the Bangladeshi Tigers once. Their road to the final has been aided by some spectacular individual performances, with the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah taking most of the plaudits.

Despite the relatively easy manner of reaching the finals, India has few issues to be concerned of before the game on September, 28. In this article, we take a look at three things Team India should be wary of before stepping onto the field:

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#3 Recent record in the finals

India were comfortably beaten in the 2017 Champions Trophy final

Since the 2014 Champions Trophy final, India's record in the finals or semi-finals of major tournaments has not been that great. Recently in the 2017 Champions Trophy Final, India suffered a heavy defeat against arch-rivals Pakistan by 180 runs.

In that Champions Trophy India had an easy run till the final, just like they have had in this Asia Cup 2018. They had two tight matches against rookie teams like Hong Kong and Afghanistan, which are enough to ring the bells, despite easy victories against Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Before that India lost in the finals of 2014 T20 World Cup and the semi-finals of both the 2015 ODI World Cup and the 2016 T20 World Cup. In all those tournaments, India had breezed through to the semis and finals, before eventually coming up short in those big games.

So India must be alert of that.

#2 Bowlers missing the mark in the final

India v Pakistan - ICC Champions Trophy Final

India has reached the final of the Asia Cup 2018 on the back of some brilliant bowling performances. The spinners and the fast bowlers have combined well in the tournament and have restricted the oppositions to low totals.

But we have seen in the past that Indian bowlers miss their mark in the final of a tournament. The 2017 Champions Trophy final is the prime example, where they conceded 338 runs against Pakistan. Prior to that India had bowled out oppositions very cheaply just like in this Asia Cup.

Similarly, in the 2016 T20 semifinals against the West Indies, India could not defend 192, with the man of the match Lendl Simmons (82) getting two reprives due to a couple of no balls.

If India lose the toss in the final then they might have to bat first. Batting first and bowling second in the Dubai International stadium hasn't been easy in the Asia Cup 2018.

We have already seen in the tournament how India struggled to defend 286 runs against a rookie team like Hong Kong.

#1 Struggling middle order

Dinesh Karthik hasn't been in the best of form

A struggling middle order has been the problem for Team India for quite some time now. In this tournament too, the story has been no different. Whenever the middle order has been tested they have failed to deliver the goods.

The middle order has been exposed against teams like Hong Kong and Afghanistan. In the match against Hong Kong India managed to score only 42 runs after the dismissal of Shikhar Dhawan.

Despite getting an opening partnership of 110 runs in the match against Afghanistan India couldn't successfully chase down a total of 252 runs, highlighting the struggles of the likes of Dhoni and Pandey.

Dhawan, Rohit and Rayudu have been the backbone of the Indian batting line up. The likes of MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik and Kedar Jadhav have not been effective enough. For India to lift the trophy, the middle order has to fire in the final of the Asia Cup.