Anshuman Gaekwad
Four Times winners,India will be in action in the Asia Cup on Wednesday when they take on Hong Kong in the first match of the six-nation tournament. They will start as favourites but will be wary of Host Pakistan because Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led India lost in the final of Tri Nation Tournament in Bangaladesh against Pakistan a week ago.So it will be a challenging time for Indian Team to get back their pride and also in the next couple of weeks they will be trying to win back a tournament they last won in 1995. In three editions since then ,India have failed to win the Asia Cup trophy.It is a different scenario,different condition and different ball game now and India should start forgetting the past.
Although India should not face much resistance from minnows like Hong Kong, but Dhoni & his men shouldn't take their opponents lightly.They must start campaign with a win ahead of their crucial tie against arch-rival Pakistan on Thursday.
In batting department, Indian team has a considerable line-up.Yuvraj Singh,Gautam Gambhir and Captain Dhoni all are in fine nick, having played some brilliant innings during the tri-nation series in Bangladesh. In my opinion Captain Dhoni should come up in the batting order.Experienced Viru should take more responsibility and stay for a long. Because 50-over cricket needed a combination of good hitting ability and the skill to manipulate the field and 'work' the ball around the field so as to eliminate risk and enable the team to reach a fighting scores of 270-300.In absence of Sachin Tendulkar he should take that role.
It will be a great opportunity to the youngstars also.Cricketers like Suresh Raina,Rohit Sharma,Yousuf Pathan will get another chance to prove their talents.Dhoni is now matured enough to handle all these talents.Batting depth will be the main strength of Indian Team where out of eleven almost 8-9 players are capable to score runds with bat.If they can play according to their strength and with a good planning India can easily get 300 plus runds on the board.After IPL it seems that less than 300 is not enough in ODI's now.So Dhoini's terget should be not less than 300 specially when he has a good batting line-up in his hand.
Due to Injury Irfan Pathan will not play in the first match.Experienced Zaheer Khan & Shree Shanth are not in the team due to fitness problem.In this situation Ishant,RP & Praveen Kumar should take extra responsibilty.Specially against Pakistan & Sri Lanka they will face a tough battle.Manpreet Gony showed good performance in IPL and got a call at the last moment.He may get a chance to prove in the first match.Apart from Bowling he is capable to score runs.
For Indian Coach Gary Kirsten it will be another challenging tournament after Tri Nation series.He took charge immediately after IPL and failed to get success in Bangladesh.
Hawkeye / Chivach Sports
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