By Niharika Raina New Delhi, Aug 20 : India will enter Asia Cup 2022 in the UAE as the reigning champions of the tournament.As is the norm the Rohit Sharma-led team will again begin as the favourites to win the tournament despite the absence of senior pacer Jasprit Bumrah and death-overs specialist Harshal Patel.
Although there are doubts regarding who will make it in the eleven-man starting lineup prior to the start of the men’s T20 World Cup in Australia Cricket fans are hopeful about India being able to keep the title.The journey of India in Asia Cup 2022 begins with a match on August 28 against the arch-rivals Pakistan and will then take on the team that qualified on August 31.However, the real test for India begins when the Super Four stage comes.
One of the most striking aspects of India’s T20I game since their early withdrawal in the men’s T20 World Cup has been the team’s decision to abandon their safety-first approach and adopting an aggressive approach with bats on top.The result of which has seen India are a ferocious team in their batting, with their run rate in 2022 being 9.29 in comparison to 8.20.
“We’ve stated clearly following the T20 World Cup in Dubai which we did not be able to make it to the finals that we believed it was time to make changes in our mindset and approach in the way we approach our sport.If there is a clear message from both the captain and coach regarding the direction the team wants to go, then the players will definitely strive to achieve that.
“For this to happen, they require freedom and clarity and that’s what we’re trying to achieve.We’re trying to give the players the maximum amount of freedom,” revealed Rohit on “Follow the Blues” show on Star Sports about bringing a change in the way India bats.
Rohit himself is in excellent form, taking high risk shots in the power-play for better results.
Suryakumar Yadav as well as Deepak Hooda are in great form as well as Rishabh Pant Hardik Pandya, and Dinesh Karthik have been capable of providing big-bang finishes to an innings.If Virat Kohli and KL Rahul adopt India’s new approach to batting, India’s batting numbers are likely to rise.
Since the year’s World Cup, when Rohit was the captain for the whole time and Rahul Dravid has been the head coach India have also won six of their seven bilateral T20I series, with the exception of one with South Africa, which was divided 2-2 after rain destroyed the final in Bengaluru in the month of June.Rohit also acknowledged that having a superb cricketing brain such as Dravid as their head coach was the corner of the foundation of India’s modern style of playing T20Is.
“When he (Dravid) became a coach here we sat together in an area for a while before deciding how we would like to move this project forward.he was in the same thinking process I was.”
“That made it more simple for me to hand the boys a clear and concise message.the players because we don’t want confusion within the group and of course we wanted him alter the way of cricket, too.We were looking to play in a certain manner in every format, and he was willing to embrace all of the above.”
In spite of the absence of Bumrah and Patel, India still have the presence of senior pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has been back to his best after the T20Is against South Africa in June and striking big blows in power-play.India is also encouraged with the young left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh’s stellar performance in the T20I series against West Indies, where he took seven wickets in five games.
In the spin department, Ravichandran Ashwin showed he still has the potential in him to be a contributing player in T20Is.
Yuzvendra Chahal is in excellent form and is almost confirmed as the top choice spinner.
If the batting line-up of opponents is filled with right-handed players and left-handers, then Ravindra Jadeja will be in the mix.Ravi Bishnoi is an excellent user of deceitful googly and is a great backup option on the pitches of the UAE.
All in all, with a new batting template and a variety in bowling options, which has led to good performances in the past couple of months, one should be optimistic that the above factors will be the catalyst for India winning the Asia Cup for the eighth consecutive time.
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