Canwinningasiacup redeem India?
Indian cricket lost face after its successive Test defeats in SA and England; a good show in UAE can only be a temporary relief
NEW DELHI: India will have to contend with scars old and new when they open their Asia Cup campaign in Group A in Dubai on Tuesday. Although Hong Kong are their first opponents, some healing can begin if they beat Pakistan on Wednesday in the game that matters in the group.
Even without Virat Kohli, rested after the long tour of England, India are co-favourites with Pakistan and they will get to meet a third time if the match that matters for expatriates in the UAE is set up as the final on September 28.
The Asia Cup being shifted between the ODI and T20 formats means there are two teams that can lay claim to the tag of holders. Sri Lanka won in 2014, the last time the tournament was played in the 50-over format. India are the defending champions, having won in 2016 when it was played as a T20 tournament. Sri Lanka, however, have struggled for consistency in recent times. They were thrashed by Bangladesh in the tournament opener.
The Rohit Sharma-led India can make some amends for last year’s ICC Champions Trophy final defeat against Pakistan when they meet on Wednesday and a solid win over Hong Kong would help the side warm up for the task.
However, India, who have not reached the Asia Cup final in the ODI format since 2010, will have to go all the way if they are to show that the Champions Trophy loss is behind them. If India do win the title, the middle-order batsmen would have played an important role.
Rohit Sharma admitted that Asia Cup will be an important step in India settling in on their combination for the 2019 World Cup in UK. Ambati Rayudu and Manish Pandey are likely to get another great chance to prove a point in the absence of Kohli, although it remains to be seen whether India will slot KL Rahul in the middle-order even though his preferred position is as opener. Rahul is coming into the tournament with an attacking 149 in the final Test against England after having failed earlier in the series.
The tournament comes close on the heels of the England tour, where India finished by losing the Test series 1-4. Although skipper Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri insisted the team fought and dominated in phases, the result showed India squandered a great chance to make amends for the 2011 and 2014 defeats against a relatively weak England.
Questionable selection calls played a role in the debacle in England – Cheteshwar Pujara was not picked for the first Test, chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav was selected for the second and the injured R Ashwin in the fourth while Hanuma Vihari was picked ahead of Karun Nair, the original choice as middle-order batsman who didn’t get a game.
Thus, even an Asia Cup victory cannot erase the failures of the team in England, where India also lost the ODI series. Six players who were part of the Test squad in the end – Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya and Shardul Thakur – will plunge into action without any break. Kohli and Shastri have declared the team must be judged on performances in major away series and the next big chance to prove themselves will come on the Australia tour at the year end.