India start as favorites in the Asia Cup 25

Bouyed by an inspired performance in England, where they managed to draw the series (2-2), Indian crciket team gears up for their next assignment in form of Asia Cup 25. There can be no doubt that the defending and current T20 champions start as tournament favourites.

This Asia cup has been marred by political tensions between the arch-rivals India and Pakistan. Both the countries have been at loggerhead since the infamous Pehlgam attacks which resulted in short conflict between the two nations. Now, as the dust seems to have settled with BCCI announcing its team for the marquee tournamanent. It is a perfect and ardent time to look at the squad.

India will undoubtedly feel the absence of stalwarts Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli who had announced their retirement from T20 post the triumph in T20 WC in June 24. On paper, the current squad looks really formidable. This has been proved by their startling performance post the T20 WC. India has registered win in 17 out of their 20 games which is an enviable record.

Series Wins ( since T20 WC 24 ):
Zimbabwe: 4–1
Sri Lanka: 3–0
Bangladesh: 3–0
South Africa: 3–1
England: 4–1

Tradionally, India bat heavy and it is very apparent strength at the top. With Shubham Gill coming back as a deputy to SKY will definitely provided stability to the top order. In all probability, Gill would open with Abhishek Sharma. The Indian test captain has been in ominous form of late. Tilak, Surya, Pandya, Axar, Samson/Jitesh will form the formidable middle order. With Bumrah, being available is a shot in the arm for the Indian team. He is a formidable bowler irrespective of the format he features in. Besides, Bumrah you will Arshdeep, Varun and Kuldeep to complete the bowling attack

This looks a very balanced side wherein you have couple of all rounders in form of Pandya and Axar. India will go in with its trio of spinners as UAE pitches will provide slow turn and bounce. Varun and Kuldeep will be difficult to handle in these conditions.

To sum it up, India would steam roll any opposition and undoubtedly be crowned Asia champions yet again.

Comments

The Great WhiteWash

2011 has been by far the most eventful year in the history of Indian Cricket.We were crowned the World Champions in front of a jam packed crowd at Wankhede stadium. Who can ever forget the picture of World Champion-India Dhoni swivelling his bat after completing the game by a towering six over long off. This was a nice tribute or a gift to the Little Master(for he has given 21 years to Indian Cricket, truly remarkable!!). From the highs of the World Cup win, Indian moved on to England with their confidence sky high, where another test awaited them. This was the place where the real cricket was to be played thats "Test Cricket". Moreover, it was far from home and in a completely hostile conditions. They were facing one of the best Test Cricket team though ranked lower than India(for we were the No. 1 test team), still they were a team to beat on their home soil. It was the fight for the No.1 spot in Test cricket. English were fresh f...

Dravid to Mahi(Part 2)

Speaking about Dhoni,I am reminded of a guy from a small town of Ranchi who, as in words of a famous commercial "Has Truly Made it Large". From working in Indian Railways as a ticket checker in Kharagpur(known only for its IIT) to leading the Indian Cricket team to the World cup crown after 27 years, Dhoni has come a long way. Mahi (as Dhoni is fondly called by his friends) is from the tinsel town of Ranchi, capital of Jharkhand. He completed his schooling from the famous DAV, Shymali. Initially, he started as a goalkeeper for his school team but soon switched to cricket on advice of his football coach. Dhoni, first came into reckoning when he performed superbly for India A team on the tour of Kenya way back in 2004. His consistent performance in Ranji and for India A finally earned him a call to play for India. The rest as we say is history. Still I strongly believe, if he were from cricketing states like Mumbai or Gujrat(which rule the roost in BCCI selection), h...

Dravid to Mahi(part 1)

Cricket has been my passion since childhood. It didnt bother whether India was playing or not ..if it was cricket I had to watch it. This was the foremost reason, I never had cable in my house till I completed 12th. Though I hardly remember when I saw the first match, I would safely assume I started watching cricket on TV from 1989. Honestly,way back then leave aside the cricket word ,I did not know anything about cricket. Like why wld people chase the cricket balls.When India were playing Australia and the bulky David Boon would hit the Indian bowlers to every corner of the ground , I would wonder why were Indians made to run to boundaries every other ball like they had got some punishment. I was really thrilled when Pakistan won the World Cup 92 as it had come back to Asia after 83(when india had won it under Kapil Dev ). I believe I became a supreme follower of cricket from 1992 onwards. Thinking about Indian players or legends as u ...

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