With all 7 first choice Indian batsmen available for selection for the first India Vs Pakistan game in Asia Cup 2022, it’s a tough choice for the Indian team management whom they pick as top 6 and whom they leave out of the playing XI.
Playing all 7 is not possible because the no. 7 slot will be occupied by the allrounder Ravindra Jadeja and one out of the 7 first choice batsmen will have to be dropped.
Here is the strongest playing XI of India for their first game against Pakistan in Asia Cup 2022 –
Openers (Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul)
KL Rahul is back in the squad now and it seems almost certain that he will slot automatically at the top of the order and Suryakumar Yadav, who opened the batting right through the West Indies tour, will have to bat in the middle order again.
Rohit Sharma will be the other opener with KL Rahul and both of them would want to make sure India doesn’t lose early wickers against the new ball in Asia Cup 2022, as they had lost in the T20 World Cup last year at the same stadium in Dubai.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma both practiced in the same nets. Both faced Arshdeep singh, Ashwin, Chahal, Jadeja in nets. #ViratKohlišµ #RohitSharma #AsiaCup pic.twitter.com/bEv0GHUv3T
— Kumar Gourav (@TheKumarGourav) August 24, 2022
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Middle order (Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya)
Although Deepak Hooda is in the squad as a back up top order batsman, it’s Virat Kohli who will bat at no. 3, having returned from a month-long break after the England tour.
Suryakumar Yadav and Rishabh Pant are good players of spin and the Indian team management would expect them to keep the momentum going in the middle overs, if India gets off to a decent start. Hardik Pandya might be given the role of a designated finisher if Dinesh Karthik is not picked.
Bowling attack (Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar, Arshdeep, Avesh)
Ravindra Jadeja will be India’s bowling allrounder and apart from some big hits with the bat, a few wickets will be expected off him as well, whenever he is introduced into the attack. Yuzvendra Chahal is expected to be picked as India’s sole specialist spinner ahead of Ravichandran Ashwin because of his wicket taking potential and his ability to bowl even in the latter stages of the innings.
The fast bowling attack will be spearheaded by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has been swinging the ball nicely in the powerplay in the recent times, and he will be joined by two young seamers Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan. While Arshdeep will bowl with the new ball and in the death, Avesh will be a middle over enforcer.
