Team India are undergoing a six-day camp at Alur before departing to Colombo on 30th August 2023 for the upcoming Asia Cup 2023. They have announced a strong squad for the prestigious tournament starting from the 30th. It promises to be an exciting series as Men in Blue will face Pakistan in the first encounter of Group Stage on 2nd September at Palleke International Stadium, Kandy, and then Nepal on 4th September at the same venue.
However, India won the last 50-over Asia Cup that they won in the 2018 edition. It is a well-balanced unit with top-quality batters, all-rounders, decent spin and pace bowling options.
Asia Cup 2023: Here we look at the SWOT analysis of the team
Strengths
Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill are likely to open the innings for Team India during Asia Cup 2023. Both players have a great record as the opening pair. Shubman Gill has been doing well in One-day international cricket. He is currently the highest-ranked Indian player in this format. During a recently concluded series against West Indies, Gill was dismissed in the first ODI before scoring 34 in 2nd one.
The third ODI was a brilliant performance by Gill scoring 85 and laying a strong foundation for a big total. He needs to take care in the initial overs against different bowlers before putting enough pressure on the opponents hitting big shots and making life tough for the opponents with his array of strokes against pacers and spinners.
Rohit Sharma has not played many matches but is expected to provide attacking starts along with Shubman Gill. India’s bowling looks strong enough with the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Siraj, and Prasidh Krishna as pace bowling options. Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Shami could be the 3 pace bowling included in the playing XI.
The spin bowling looks impressive as Kuldeep Yadav will be the mainstay along with Ravindra Jadeja keeping the flow of runs. Kuldeep would look to create pressure picking wickets in the middle overs along with Jadeja. Axar Patel could be an option as the third spinner if needed.
Weakness
India’s biggest weakness going into the tournament has been their inconsistent batting. Rohit Sharma missed a few matches and would look to get into a rhythm while opening the batting.
Shubman Gill must rise to the occasion in this Asia Cup. After a brilliant IPL 2023, he did not contribute much in the World Test Championship finals against Australia at the Oval. Hardik Pandya looked out of sorts in the ODI series against the West Indies and must rise to the occasion during the Asia Cup 2023.
Oppurinites
This will be an ideal chance for the Indian players to perform well in the upcoming Asia Cup 2023 starting from 30th August. Tilak Varma made it into the squad due to good performances in the T20I series against West Indies and did well in the Indian Premier League for Mumbai Indians.
Suryakumar Yadav will look for brilliant performances in the Asia Cup 2023. With a few good knocks, he could be selected in the squad for the World Cup to be played at home. Ishan Kishan also needs to perform well if given a chance in playing XI, the selectors might be selected for the World Cup.
Threats
Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul have returned from a long injury layoff as neither player did not play international cricket. Shreyas Iyer suffered a back injury during the fourth Test against Australia in Ahmedabad and did not feature in IPL 2023, World Test Championship against the same opponents at Oval.
KL Rahul will be returning to action after suffering an injury during the IPL 2023 while fielding. India management must be careful with these two players and focus on the longer picture of the World Cup 2023.
Asia Cup 2023: India Squad
Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (VC), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.
Travelling stand-by player: Sanju Samson
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