Positives Team India can take from Asia Cup 2018

India clinched victory in a nail-biter against Bangladesh to win its seventh Asia Cup title. India has been ruthless throughout the tournament and has won all the matches played barring a tie with the Afghans due to some hiccups. Cricket pundits doubted whether India would defend the title in the absence of ace batsman Virat Kohli, but the Men in Blue left no room for such criticism after some mouth-shutting performance.

While defending the trophy was number one priority, it was also paramount to give adequate opportunities to the fringe players to justify their place in the national side. Still, there are many areas left exposed where a bit of improvement is needed, but India will have lots of positives to take away from Asia Cup 2018.

#3 Presence of a left-arm fast bowler

A left-arm pacer - isn’t this what team India was deprived off over the past few years?

Zaheer Khan, probably the best left-arm pacer India ever had, played his last ODI six years ago in 2012. It isn’t the case that India has failed to produce left-arm fast-bowler, they had a handful of guys such as Jaydev Unadkat, Sreenath Aravind and Barinder Sran, who were good at the domestic level but failed to impress at the international level.

Khaleel Ahmed has shown the impression of a bright talent at his international debut, just like his idol Zak did. The lanky fast bowler hailing from the Tonk district of Rajasthan made to national side courtesy of his U19 World Cup exploits.

Khaleel was phenomenal in his very first international match, particularly in the second spell where he provided crucial three wickets to restrict flamboyant Hong Kong in making the biggest upset of the tournament. Khaleel can be a secret weapon particularly in the bowler-friendly conditions, and team management will undoubtedly look to keep him in their plans.

#2 Return of Jadhav and Jadeja

Both Kedhar Jadhav and Ravindra Jadeja made their return to the ODI side after a year. While the former was selected in the 15 member squad for Asia Cup, the later’s return was a forced one due to the injury of Hardik Pandya.

Jadhav has proven his worth by all-round performance throughout the tournament. His round arm-action doesn’t allow the batsman to play his shots and the batsmen end up throwing wicket due to frustration.

Jadhav was clinical in the match against arch-rival Pakistan where he scalped three crucial wickets. On the ultimate night, Jadhav justified his role of a finisher by playing a sensible knock of 23* taking India home victorious.

Jadeja sought the attention of everybody by his brilliant all-round play. Jadeja celebrated his return to limited overs format in style. In his very first match, he bagged four wickets which broke the spine of Bangladesh middle-order.

Jaddu’s batting abilities helped India to prevent a defeat against resurgent Afghans. In the finals, Jadeja arrived in a tensed situation, but his sensible play took the team to a comfortable position. Moreover, Jaddu is a live wire in the field, a brilliant display of acrobatics made way for Mithun to the pavilion in the final.

#1 Middle-order taking the responsibility

Since last five years, India’s top order have piled a plethora of runs. The only loose strand in the team was unstable middle order. Whenever the top-order collapsed, the weakness was exposed. Over the past few years, India has tried a lot of players for position number 4 and 5, but none of them could nullify the middle-order woes.

When the squad for Asia Cup was announced, lots of eyebrows were raised over the selection of players such as- Why has Virat Kohli been rested when the middle-order looks brittle? But, the performance of senior guys like Dinesh Karthik and Ambati Rayudu is a relief for the selectors as well as the team management. Rayudu returned to the national squad after clearing the Yo-Yo test.

The Hyderabadi batsman looked good in the course of the tournament and finished a couple of games for the team. He had a decent run in the tournament with a tally of 175 runs in six matches. Dinesh Karthik is the kind of guy who has been in and out of the team since the past 14 years. 'DK' was impressive in handling the situation and understanding the need of the hour throughout the tournament. Keeping in mind the experience he possesses, team management would like to have Karthik as a part of their future plans.

With the return of Virat Kohli at no.3 and Jadhav holding his place at no.6, the places for grabs will be no.4 and no.5. Players like KL Rahul, Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik, Shreyas Iyer and also, MS Dhoni who has struggled over the years with the bat, would compete for these places.