Predicting India's strongest playing XI for their Asia Cup opening match

India will play the Asia cup for the 13th time, which is the most of any team besides Sri Lanka, who are making their 14th appearance. India also have 6 titles, which are the most by any team. In the Indian team, Virat Kohli has been rested and Rohit Sharma has been given the captaincy. Uncapped left-arm seamer Khaleel Ahmed has been a surprise inclusion in the squad. Let's take a look at what could be India's starting XI for the opening match of the Asia Cup.

Openers

Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma has been India's most consistent opening batsman, and on his day he can smash any bowler out of the park, as evident from his 3 double centuries. While his Asia Cup record is nowhere near his overall record, he nevertheless remains India's first choice opener for the Asia Cup.

Shikhar Dhawan

While Shikhar Dhawan hasn't been in the best test form as of late, he still remains India's top choice batsman to open the innings along with Rohit Sharma. He also has a better Asia Cup average than his overall, so he will be the first choice opener for India. In addition, he is in decent touch in limited-overs cricket.

Middle Order

KL Rahul would be a player to watch

KL Rahul

KL Rahul has been in good touch after his century in his previous match and will be full of confidence. He has not impressed with his performance as a number 4 batsman, but he may perform better at the number 3 position because that will be closer to his best slot which is opening the innings. He can act like an anchor and accelerate when the time comes.

Manish Pandey

Manish Pandey started his career off with a bang with a century against Australia in just his 3rd match, but since then, he hasn't been as fluent with the bat. In the year of 2017, where he played 8 innings, he could only score 1 half century in ODIs. But this is completely contrasting to his fortunes in T20Is where he is scoring at an astounding average of 94 this year.

Although his strike rate may be a bit on the low side, his consistency is remarkable. He was selected based on his form for India A in which he scored more than 306 runs in 4 innings without even being dismissed once in the recently concluded quadrangular series.

Dinesh Karthik

The number 5 slot is a toss-up between Dinesh Karthik and Ambati Rayudu, but Dinesh Karthik may be a better choice because of his superior strike rate and form. Due to MS Dhoni's waning finishing skills, India is in need of a good number 5 batsman who can accelerate when the time comes and can anchor the innings in case of a top-order collapse.

MS Dhoni can help offer suggestions to Rohit Sharma

Wicketkeeper and All-Rounders

MS Dhoni (WK)

While MS Dhoni did not have the best of times in England and came under a lot of flak for failing to take India across the finish line, his glove work is still the best in the world. He can still anchor the innings and there are other players in the team who can assume the role of a finisher such as Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul.

Hardik Pandya

While Hardik Pandya may not have been having the best of times in all formats, his finishing skills and ability to hit sixes at will is still as good as it ever has been. He has shown glimpses of his bowling prowess and has improved it tremendously since the IPL. He can be an extremely dangerous batsman and can punish bowlers for even the slightest mistakes.

Bhuveneshwar Kumar

Bhuveneshwar Kumar has shaped up to be India's best swing bowler and can be effective in all conditions. In addition to his bowling, he has an amazing batting average of 34 in the last 2 years, which is more than Hardik Pandya's average over the last 2 years.

His bowling is what makes him one of the mainstays in the Indian team. He has a huge arsenal of variations and has tremendously improved his bowling speed. He can now occasionally touch the 140 kmph mark, which makes him one of the most potent Indian fast bowlers.

Bowlers

Jasprit Bumrah will be the X-Factor

Jasprit Bumrah

Jasprit Burmah has become India's go-to bowler in all formats, and he is a death over specialist and has a deadly yorker. His unique action can also create problems for the opposition batsmen. He has formed one of the best fast bowling attacks along with Bhuveneshwar Kumar. He is also the ICC number 1 ODI bowler.

Yuzvendra Chahal

Yuzvendra Chahal has been an integral part of the Indian squad and has been extremely effective in the limited over matches that he has played. His ability to take wickets in the middle overs has made him into an indispensable part of the Indian squad and helped them accomplish many wins.

Kuldeep Yadav

Kuldeep Yadav along with Chahal have formed a world-class spin duo. The fact that he is a chinaman bowler makes him even more effective because most of the players have not gotten much exposure to chinaman spin and are thus fairly new to playing chinaman spin. He has troubled batsmen everywhere he goes and is also ranked number 6 in the ICC ODI rankings for bowlers.