Mumbai: India skipper Virat Kohli’s workload will be in focus along with the middle-order slots when the national selection committee picks the squad for the Asia Cup cricket tournament on Saturday.
While India will be entering the tournament after a gruelling two and half month tour of UK, it is unlikely that top stars will take rest as they are set to play arch-rivals Pakistan at least twice or may be thrice if the two teams reach the finals.
However, the skipper has had issues with his back and with another six Test matches lined in the next three months (two vs West Indies and four vs Australia), the selectors will be cautious while monitoring Kohli’s workload.
The other concern will be fixing the middle-order woes.
While Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma select themselves, KL Rahul will remain a back-up opener or one-down depending on the team situation.
However, it’s the two batting slots after Kohli which are a bone of contention going into the World Cup next year. Manish Pandey had an indifferent run with the senior team but the Quadrangular series saw him roar back to form. Ambati Rayudu has passed the YoYo test and scored a few runs for India A. Kedar Jadhav is also fit and his slow off-breaks could be an asset on the UAE tracks.
The selectors will also find it diffcult to ignore Mayank Agarwal’s unless they decide to rest Dhawan.
The bowling department will have Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah leading the attack with Shardul Thakur and Siddarth Kaul fighting for the back-up pacer’s slot along with Umesh Yadav.
With Mahendra Singh Dhoni behind stumps, there are chances that young Rishabh Pant, who has looked far more confident than Dinesh Karthik, may make it as Dhoni’s understudy. (PTI)
