Asia Cup 2022, the next big cricket event, is expected to enthrall viewers from all over the world. After a 4-year break, the premier cricket tournament will return in August and September of 2022. August 27 will mark the commencement of the 2022 Asia Cup.
This season, the competition will be played in T20 format. Six teams in all will compete in the Asia Cup in 2022. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and the five confirmed teams. One extra team will enter the competition following the qualification round.
There is still some debacle about the venues as to where it will be hosted. With the critical situation in Srilanka, the tournament was rumored to be taking place in UAE but no official announcement from Asian Cricket Council has been made.
If the tournament is held in Sri Lanka, stadiums such as the Colombo Cricket Club Ground, Galle International Stadium, Dambulla International Stadium, Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium, P. Sara Oval Stadium, Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, and R. Premadasa Stadium may be some of the locations for all the matches.
If the tournament is to take place in Srilanka we can expect a good advantage for spinners and that will also affect the team’s selection.
India recently traveled to England and will next tour West Indies which are pitches that support the pacers. It will be important to seek a team that has a good quality spinner that can work their magic in Srilanka.
The proposed squad for Asia Cup 2022 could be:
Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel.
The team can play multiple combinations of bowlers with a stagnant batting lineup. With players like Rohit, Virat, SKY, Pant and Hardik, and Jadeja backing with their all-around performance, we need to experiment with our bowling.
Yuzvendra Chahal looks like a permanent fixture in the team along with Jasprit Bumrah who have consistently performed in and out of the subcontinent.
With Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav can play a crucial role as they did create history in 2017 when they visited the island and together bagged around 30 wickets in the series. It will be interesting to see who other bowlers from the squad will get the chance to be in the playing XI.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar definitely deserves a chance in the first couple of games as he has the ability to swing the ball in every condition and take crucial wickets. If the pitch is super spin-friendly, we can expect Bishnoi or Harshal Patel to be in the first few teams to open the Asia Cup 2022.
