Asia Cup 2018: India's Probable XI to face Hong Kong

The 14th edition of the Asia Cup has started in UAE from 15th September 2018. The six teams participating in the tournament, have been divided into two groups of three teams each.

Group A: India; Pakistan; HongKong

Group B: Sri Lanka; Bangladesh; Afghanistan

The inaugural match of the tournament was a Group B encounter between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It was expected to be a very close match. However, Bangladesh surprised everybody with an excellent performance as they went on to beat Sri Lanka comprehensively by 137 runs.

In the second match of the tournament, Pakistan took on minnows Hong Kong in a Group A encounter. Pakistan won the match easily by 8 wickets. In the 3rd match of the tournament, SriLanka is facing Afghanistan. It is a do or die match for SriLanka.

The defending champions, India will start off their Asia Cup campaign on 18th of September 2018 against the minnows Hong Kong. It should not be a problem for the star-studded Indian team to beat Hong Kong. And with the match against Pakistan scheduled on the following day, India might rest some of their main players against Hong Kong and test their bench strength.

In this article we try and look at, what can be India's probable playing XI against Hong Kong.

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#1 Openers: Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan

Captain Rohit Sharma and vice-captain Shikhar Dhawan are likely to open the innings for India. Both these players will relish the opportunity of playing against the Hong Kong attack first up. They will be aiming to score big hundreds in this match which will help to boost their confidence ahead of the Pakistan encounter. The success of the Indian team in the tournament will depend to a large extent, on how this opening pair performs. Hence they should try and get used to the playing conditions in this match.

#2 Middle Order Batsmen : KL Rahul, Ambati Rayadu, Manish Pandey and MS Dhoni (wk)

In the absence of Virat Kohli, KL Rahul is most likely to bat at the number 3 position for India, in this tournament. The match against Hong Kong will provide Rahul the ideal platform to get a big score and settle down, in his new batting position.

Ambati Rayadu and Manish Pandey are most likely to bat at the number 4 and 5 position respectively. This will be a crucial match for both of them. They need to prove to the team management that they are in good form in order to retain their place in the playing XI. If anyone of them fails, then Kedar Jadhav might come in for the next match.

MS Dhoni is likely to play in this match as he would like to have some match practice before the crucial Pakistan match. If Dhoni plays, he is most likely to play in the number 6 position in the batting order.

#3 All Rounders : Hardik Pandey and Axar Patel

At number 7 and 8, both the pace bowling allrounder Hardik Pandey and the spinning allrounder Axar Patel. It will be a crucial match for both of them, as their performance in this match is likely to determine the player who will get the nod for the all-rounder's slot, in the subsequent matches. Although Hardik is ahead in the race for the all-rounder's slot, if Axar performs well, then India might opt to play with three spinners (Kuldeep and Chahal being the other two) instead of three pacers in the tournament.

#4 Bowlers: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur and Yuzvendra Chahal

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who is making a comeback, after an injury layoff, will definitely like to test his fitness and get some match practice ahead of the crucial Pakistan encounter. He is most likely to be in the playing XI. However, the other speedster, Jasprit Bumrah, who had a long and gruelling English tour, might be rested in this match in order to keep him fresh and ready for the rest of the tournament. In his place, Shardul Thakur might get an opportunity in the playing XI. India's premier spinner, Kuldeep Yadav might also be rested in this match. In Kuldeep's absence, Chahal will be the lone spinner in the team, alongside all-rounder Axar Patel.