Asia Cup 2018: Which Team Will Win The Battle To Become King of Asia?

Team India left for Dubai, Skipper Rohit Sharma will be leading the side in the absence of Virat Kohli. The tournament will begin on Saturday. In this tournament, six teams will play in the 50-over format, starting from Saturday.

The five Test-playing nations — India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. Hong Kong, is the 6^th nation to qualify the tournament after beating UAE in the final of the Qualifiers.

Team India is the defending champion of Asia Cup and this time the Indian team is also considered as a strong contender for this tournament.

All-rounder Kedar Jadhav posted photos on Twitter with Rohit, Dhoni, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. Jadhav is returning to the national team following the surgery of Hamstring injury.  He had injury during the Indian Premier League match this year.

Flying to Dubai for Asia cup!!!! pic.twitter.com/J24a9cQtN6

— IamKedar (@JadhavKedar) September 13, 2018

The BCCI official said that some players left for Asia Cup on Thursday while others would join them soon. The Indian team will launch its campaign against Hong Kong on September 18, after which it will face the opponent Pakistan next day. It is known that in 2017, Pakistan had achieved a major stage by defeating India in the Champions Trophy final. Now India has a great opportunity to answer that defeat.

At the same time, the first match of the tournament will be played between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka on September 15 in Dubai. At present, Team India is engaged in the exercise with full force for this tour.

India won the title most time

India has won the tournament six times, and defending champions also. India has won the title in 1984, 1988, 1990/1991, 1995, 2010 and 2016. The last time this tournament was played in the T-20 format, but apart from this it has always been played in ODI format. This time also, Asia Cup will be played in 50-50 overs format. 

Sri Lanka have won the tournament five teams while Pakistan have won twice; Bangladesh, on the other hand, had it to the final in 2012 & 2016 (T20 Format)

Asia Cup fixtures

Group Stage

Super Four

Final

Here is the complete team list of all six teams:

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

Pakistan Squad: Fakhar Zaman, Imam Ul Haq, Shan Masood, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed (c), Asif Ali, Haris Sohail, Shadab Khan, Muhammad Nawaz, Fahim Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Amir, Junaid Khan, Usman Shinwari, Shaheen Afridi

Sri Lanka Squad: Angelo Mathews(c), Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis, Upul Tharanga, Niroshan Dickwella, Danushka Gunathilaka, Thisara Perera, Dasun Shanaka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Akila Dananjaya, Dilruwan Perera, Amila Aponso, Kasun Rajitha, Suranga Lakmal, Dushmantha Chameera, Lasith Malinga

Bangladesh Squad: Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mashrafe Mortaza(c), Mohammad Mithun, Liton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim, Ariful Haque, Mahmudullah, Mosaddek Hossain, Mehidy Hasan, Nazmul Islam, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Abu Hider Rony, Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Mominul Haque

Afghanistan Squad: Asghar Afghan (c), Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Ihsanullah Janat, Javed Ahmadi, Rahmat Shah, Hashmat Shahidi, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Najibullah Zadran, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Aftab Alam, Samiullah Shinwari, Munir Ahmad Kakar (wk), Sayed Ahmad Sherzad, Sharafudin Ashraf, Wafadar

Hong Kong: Anshuman Rath(c), Aizaz Khan, Babar Hayat, Cameron McAulsan, Christopher Carter, Ehsan Khan, Ehsan Nawaz, Arshad Mohammad, Kinchit Shah, Nadeem Ahmed, Raag Kapur, Scott McKechnie, Tanveer Ahmed, Tanwir Afzal, Waqas Khan, Aftab Hussain