Asia Cup 2018: India's Predicted XI

Middle-Order: KL Rahul, Ambati Rayudu and Manish Pandey

Manish Pandey will be looking to make the best of his opportunity.

While the talk has been mostly surrounding which two of these three to pick, India could throw us a surprise by having all three in the team. If the team management does not have faith in the Rohit-Dhawan partnership at the top, this will clearly be the way to go.

All three men have shown in the past that they are capable of scoring big runs in the limited over format of the game, and with all three in the team, India will have some much-needed solidity in the middle-order.

Almost a decade on from becoming the first Indian batsman to score a century in the IPL, Pandey is yet to solidify his place in the Indian team. On the other hand, this might be Rayudu's last chance to become a regular in the national side.

KL Rahul struggled throughout the whole English tour before coming good in the last innings of the final test and scoring an epic 149. That might have saved his place in the ODI team. And on the pitches of UAE, Rahul will be expected to be back to his best.