Asia Cup: India's probable playing XI

India has announced its squad for Asia Cup. Virat Kohli has been rested and Rohit Sharma will lead the side in his absence. This should definitely create a void in the middle order as Kohli is arguably India's best batsman.

Having said that, this gives an opportunity to the fringe players to make a mark in the Asia Cup. This will a test for the middle-order and those who rise to occasion in absence of the Indian skipper may cement their place for the World Cup.

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shikhar Dhawan (vc), KL Rahul, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Khaleel Ahmed.

This should be the probably playing XI for Asia Cup.

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Openers(Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma)

Rohit Sharma will lead India in the absence of Virat Kohli. He along with Dhawan will form the explosive opening pair for India. Both of them are a fierce striker of the cricket ball and on their day can destroy any bowling attack.

The batting -friendly conditions of UAE are expected to encourage high scoring games. In the absence of Kohli at No 3, the openers have an additional responsibility of providing a good start.

Rohit will be buoyed with the additional responsibility of captaining the team and will look to lead from the front. Dhawan would be itching to get some runs under his belt after an average performance on the England tour.

Ambati Rayudu

Rayudu should come in at 3

Rayudu has some big shoes to fill but has a wealth of experience which can come in handy. After setting the IPL on fire with some blistering knocks upfront for CSK, he becomes an obvious choice at No 3.

Rayudu missed the flight to England as he failed the yo-yo test. He would be raring to make amends for the same by scoring big in the Asia Cup.

MS Dhoni

Dhoni should bat up the order

In absence of Kohli, Dhoni should bat up the order to provide some stability to the middle-order. This would also provide confidence to the players in the middle-order and help them play their natural game. The former skipper can anchor the innings while others around him play an attacking brand of cricket. The finisher role can be handled by the ever-improving Pandya who has every shot in his repertoire.

Dinesh Karthik

Karthik will be an important cog in the middle order

Karthik may have had an ordinary outing with the bat in the Tests against England but make no mistake, he is still a dangerous batsman in the shorter format. His heroic knock in the finals of the Nidahas trophy should still be fresh in our minds wherein he belted 22 runs of the last over to win the match for India.

Karthik is a compact batsman with a solid technique. His astute judgement of situations was apparent during his mesmerizing knocks in the IPL. He can handle pressure and maintain cool during tight match situations and will be an important cog in the middle order.

Kedar Jadhav

Kedar Jadhav should be part of playing eleven

There is a fight between Kedar Jadhav and Manish Pandey for this final slot in the middle-order. Jadhav for me should make it as he gives an extra bowling option. His low arm bowling acting is very deceiving for the batsmen and on the spinner-friendly tracks of UAE, it can be very useful.

Kedar Jadhav was a regular in the Indian team before he got injured. His all-round capabilities make him indispensable for the Indian team in the shorter format.

Hardik Pandya

Hardik Pandya

Pandya will keep his place as the batting-allrounder in the team. His ability to consistently clock 140 plus makes him an additional pace option. He can also bowl the knuckleball and short pitch stuff to keep the batsmen guessing on slow sub-continent type pitches.

Pandya is an attacking batsman in the lower middle-order and can clear the boundary ropes at will. India will look for him to provide an explosive finish in the death overs.

Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav

Wrist Spin duo

Chahal and Kuldeep, the wrist-spin duo have taken the Indian spin attack to another level. They were drafted in the playing eleven post-India's forgetful loss in the Finals of Champions Trophy, 2017. They have been sensational since then and have forced the established spinner duo of Ashwin and Jadeja to sit out.

They accounted for 33 wickets against Proteas in the 6 match ODI series and were instrumental in the first ever series win for India in South Africa.

Asia nations are traditionally good players of spin but the quality of this spin-duo is something they would still find it difficult to negotiate.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah

Bhuvi will be back

Bhuvi and Bumrah will be the pacers in the Indian bowling line up. India is blessed to have one of the best opening bowling line-ups in ODIs.

If Bhuvi has the knuckleball, Bumrah has the yorkers. India has had long the issue of bowling at the death. This has been mitigated by these two pacemen.

Bhuvi would be coming off a long lay off owing to his back injury and will be raring to go. Bumrah will be high on confidence after his superlative performance in Tests.