The Asia Cup 2022 will kick off on Saturday, August 27, with the official hosts Sri Lanka taking on Afghanistan in Dubai. At the same venue the next day, India and Pakistan will meet for the blockbuster Sunday; this will also be the first meeting between the two sides since Pakistan thrashed India by 10 wickets at the T20 World Cup 2021.
India are the defending champions now and, under new skipper, Rohit Sharma, have been a force to reckon with since last year: India has won 6 of their last 7 T20I series – including T20I series wins in England and West Indies – and drew one series, with South Africa.
Who are the favorites?
Once again India and Pakistan are the two favorites to win the Asia Cup. However, not Pakistan – but it was Bangladesh who have reached the finals of the last two editions, both times they were beaten by India. Bangladesh are also coming off a 2-1 ODI series loss to Zimbabwe.
Also, since the tournament is being played in the UAE where spinners will have a major role to play, both Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, both of whom possess a coterie of spinners, also could spring up surprises and upset the likes of India, and Pakistan, if they meet in the Super 4 round,
Shane Watson chooses his winner of the Asia Cup 2022
Legendary Australian all-rounder Shane Watson was recently asked about his prediction of the winners of the Asia Cup 2022. The Aussie didn’t have any second doubts in picking Rohit Sharma’s team to win the tournament, explaining that Indian players will adapt seamlessly to the UAE conditions.
“My predicted winner is India. They’re so strong and depending on what the conditions are, they adapt easily to conditions,” Watson told Sanjana Ganesan on The ICC Review.
“That first game is going to be very special to watch because Pakistan have full belief now that they can beat this Indian team. I think, really, whoever wins that game is going to go on and win the Asia Cup.”
Shane Watson marveled at India’s batting line-up, saying that it would be difficult for opposition bowlers to handle the too-hot Indian batters.
“[But] I’ve just got a feeling India [will win the tournament]. They’ve got so much firepower all the way through their batting order, so it’s going to be hard to be able to contain them,” asserted the two-time World Cup winner.
India’s squad for Asia Cup 2022: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan
Standbys: Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, and Deepak Chahar
