Asia Cup 2018 Indian Squad: A SWOT Analysis

The Asia Cup 2018 is scheduled to start from 15th September in the UAE. A 16-member Indian squad for the same was announced by the BCCI.

Rohit Sharma will lead the team with fellow opener Shikhar Dhawan as his deputy since skipper Virat Kohli has been rested for the tournament as a result of heavy workload and a shoulder injury troubling him throughout the England tour.

The squad marks the return on Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The selectors have also recalled Manish Pandey, Ambati Rayudu and Kedar Jadhav for the tournament while Suresh Raina, Umesh Yadav and Siddharth Kaul who were all a part of the Indian ODI setup in England miss out.

Here, we analyse the Indian squad stating their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats ahead of the tournament :

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Strengths:

It is no secret that Indian cricket has seen a bowling revelation in the past couple of years and with India sporting a full strength bowling squad once again, the expectations will be understandably high.

India's premier bowler, Bhuvneshwar Kumar marks a return to the team after a period of rehabilitation having suffered a lower-back injury in the England tour. He made an impressive comeback to competitive cricket after picking up 3/33 in India A's win over South Africa A.

Jasprit Bumrah has been in incredible form with the ball having claimed 11 wickets in 2 Tests vs England. Hardik Pandya is the automatic third choice seamer with his all-round skills and one can expect him to aid Kumar and Bumrah in most matches as the third pacer should India decide to play a 3-2 combination. Khaleel Ahmed and Shardul Thakur make up the rest of the fast bowling lot.

India's spin twins Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav have shown their mettle with the white ball and are expected to be a handful on the dusty UAE pitches. India also have the left-arm spin of Axar Patel to fall back to.

India's bowling attack brims with immense variety and form on paper and the onus will be on the boys to deliver.

Weaknesses:

India's middle and lower-middle order has been a case of concern for long.

Since the World Cup in 2015, India's middle order woes have made the headlines in every tournament the side has played in. It's September 2018 and the Indian team doesn't look anywhere close to sorting the issues. However, the Asia Cup might be the perfect platform to strengthen the middle order before India travels to Australia later this year.

With Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma always being in prime form the moment they don the blue, the lack of emulating the foundation they provide by the batsmen that follow has given the management a fair few headaches. The search for a permanent No. 4 still hasn't ended, although India are no short of options in the regard.

Now, with Kohli missing out, India's batting order looks thinner than ever. The team management will hope that India puts its middle order ghosts to rest in this series for once and for all.

Opportunities:

Ambati Rayudu

The time is ripe for Ambati Rayudu to make a strong comeback into the limited overs setup. The Hyderabad batsman had a stellar IPL with champions Chennai Super Kings which brought him once again to the fore in the circles. He scored 602 runs in the season at a healthy average of 43. He missed out in the England series after failing the Yo-Yo Test. Now, Rayudu travels to UAE with the team who is looking to rope someone in permanently to handle their middle order problems.

20-year old Khaleel Ahmed earned his maiden call-up. Although the Rajasthan pacer might find it difficult to get a game, he'll be hoping for an opportunity against the lower rung teams in the tournament.

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Threats:

India will miss the services of skipper Virat Kohli

One big news on the day of the selection of squad was that Indian skipper Virat Kohli will miss the Asia Cup. The current No.1 batsman in ODIs, Kohli has been having troubles with his back for quite some time due to which he gave his county stint before the England series a pass too. His niggles seem to persist as he talked about them during the third Test of the ongoing England vs India series. Consequently, the selectors have decided to rest the captain in order to better manage his workload.

But the absence of India's best batsman will be a huge threat looming over India's chances of winning the Cup. While the ever-reliant Rohit Sharma has been handed the ropes for leading the team, it is Kohli the batsman which India will miss more. His exclusion makes India's batting line-up look frail.

In Asia Cup 2016, India was reeling at 8 for 3 while chasing against arch-rivals Pakistan and the opposition started to believe that they were still in the game while defending a sub-par total, only for Virat Kohli to come in and send the ball all over the ground and completely take away the game from them.

The troops will be without their King at the helm but they will hope they can do everything in their power to retain the Cup.