India have won both their matches at this year’s edition of the Asia Cup and lead group A with four points.

Rohit Sharma and co were the the first team from group A to qualify for the 2022 Asia Cup‘s Super-4 round. The team has a net run rate of +1.096 which is only second to Afghanistan who leads all teams with an NRR of +2.467.

The team has been in formidable form till now and will hope to continue this streak when it will face Pakistan for the second time in this tournament, but this time the stakes will be much higher as both the teams will compete in the Super-4s.

Also Read: Asia Cup 2022: SWOT analysis of Afghanistan cricket team

Strengths: – Batting

Indian team has the best batting line-up of all teams in the tournament. They have Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul as its solid opening duo while Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav and Shreyas Iyer lead the middle order. The presence of a veteran player like Dinesh Kartik helps the team to provide stability while the hard-hitting duo of Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya can create fear in any bowling line-up. The team can chase big targets and can also post big totals batting first. 

Weakness: – Relative inexperienced bowling lineup

With Jasprit Bumrah not playing in the tournament, a bulk load of responsibility falls on Bhuvneshwar Kumar to lead the Indian bowling attack. Yuzvendra Chahal is the sole experienced spinner in the team while rest of the bowling squad comprising pacers Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Deepak Chahar, Ravi Bishnoi, Axar Patel and Deepak Hooda have played in relatively less number of T20I games and this can cause the team to leak runs at a great rate in the death overs of a match. Ravindra Jadeja‘s injury also is a major cause of concern for the team as he is known to finish his overs at a high rate and can restrict players from scoring runs at the same time.

Also Read: Asia Cup: Sri Lanka beat Afghanistan with superb all-round effort in slog overs

Opportunities: – Final chance to sort out the playing XI before WC

This is team India’s final chance to sort out a strong fifteen-man playing squad prior to the ICC World T20 World Cup that begins next month. Opener KL Rahul’s spot in the team is in danger because of his poor form and players like Mayank Agarwal and Shikhar Dhawan are waiting in wings to grab his place once he is dropped. In terms of bowling, the team has got two pacers who have cemented their place in the next World Cup squad in Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The players who are playing this year’s edition of the Asia Cup have a great chance to put a stamp on their spot on the team and this tournament is a great platform for them to cement their places in the squad.

Threats: – Out-of-form opening pair

Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul have not scored a lot of runs in the 2 matches that the team has played till now and this may worry the team as in a high chasing game, the team will depend on these two players to provide a good start. Rahul’s 36 of 39 balls against Hong Kong was the fifth slowest in the first innings for India in T20s. Rohit Sharma does get to a decent start but has failed to convert it into big scores. Super-4 will be a great test for both the players, along with Virat Kohli, at number 3 who scored a fifty against Hong Kong. Kohli has been inconsistent with his form and the team relies heavily on their top-3 to provide runs for them.