Asia Cup 2018: Virat-less India look to defend title

Defending champions India will once again be the favorites to lift the trophy.

The battle for Asian supremacy begins today as six teams India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Hong Kong prepare to lock horns in the much anticipated Asia Cup that is hosted in the UAE.

The desert queen nation has two world-class international stadiums in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Defending champions India will once again be the favorites to lift the trophy.

However. it won't be a cakewalk for the Men in Blue under the captaincy of stand-in-captain Rohit Sharma, as the other teams know that India's best batsman, captain Virat Kohli has been rested by the BCCI owing to strenuous schedule and a grueling tour of England where he lead his team in all the three formats and featured in each and every match.

Despite the absence of Virat Kohli, India looks a well-balanced unit with the likes of Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni, Shikhar Dhawan holding key to the batting line up. The bowling department will be looked after the deadly pacer duo of 'B' -Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah. The spin twins Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, popularly known as 'KulCha' will also play a key role as pitches in this part of the world mostly remain dry owing to the prevailing heat conditions that will amount into rough patches assisting spinners.

India is placed with arch-rivals Pakistan and Asia Cup qualifier-2018 winner Hong Kong, who defeated hosts UAE in the final to make it to the main draw and get a chance to play with the big boys; in Group-A. Whereas, Group-B can be termed as the 'Group of Death' that features two-time runner-up Bangladesh, five-times champion Sri Lanka and the team that dares to challenge all- Afghanistan.

In the pre-tournament press conference, India captain Rohit Sharma and Pakistani counterpart Sarfaraz Ahmed participated together, facing a volley of questions from journalists; where Rohit Sharma talked about the importance of the Asia Cup as a build up to the World Cup that starts in England in less than a year's time.

There weren't any mind games played between the arch-rivals but the Pakistani captain said India's batting especially the middle-order gets exposed in the absence of superstar Virat Kohli, and that they need to cash in on the opportunity at the right time.

As the tournament progresses, India is expected to get stiff competition when the Super-4 battle begins. This tournament is personally very important for Rohit Sharma who will be leading India in a multi-team tournament for the first time. He needs to prove a point, as he was omitted from India's Test side that recently lost in England 1-4.

He will surely get the guidance from India's seniormost pro-MS Dhoni from behind the stumps. Though the absence of impactful Virat Kohli will be felt by cricket fanatics, the Indo-Pak clash isn't likely going to lose any sheen and charm.

Fans will be expecting mouth-watering clashes like the Nidahas Trophy T20 Tournament, that produced two seat-on-the-edge clashes: Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh (virtual semi-final) and India vs Bangladesh (The final) where Dinesh Karthik hit a last ball SIX to romp Viratless India home by four wickets.