Consistent India Should Win The Asia Cup, Says Virender Sehwag

Former India opener Virender Sehwag feels India are the favourites to win the upcoming Asia Cup.

India will have their task cut out when they start their title-defence in the competition in the United Arabia Emirates. The team will be without their talismanic skipper Virat Kohli. The 29-year old has been rested for the competition after the three-month long tour of United Kingdom. In his absence, Rohit Sharma will lead the side.

Not surprisingly, many feel that India might find it tough to go all the way in the Asia Cup in Kohli’s absence who has been the team’s batting mainstay across formats for quite some years now.

However, Virender Sehwag feels India’s consistency in shorter formats puts them ahead of their rivals. And the legendary batsman also backed India to win the coveted title.

“If you look at the other teams in the tournament, Sri Lanka is not the same team as it was a few years ago. So is not supposed to mount a serious challenge. With Pakistan, one is never sure which team will turn up on a particular day, as they can be great or poor on any given day. India is the only team to play well consistently in the shorter forms across the world. And therefore they should win the Cup again,” he told IndiaTV.

Speaking about two-time runners-up Bangladesh, Sehwag said the Tigers don’t pose any threat to India. Sehwag backed his claim by citing Bangladesh’s poor record against India outside their country.

“Bangladesh have defeated India before and are a dangerous team but only in their own backyard. Outside the subcontinent they have hardly ever defeated India. And so there is not enough evidence that could prove that they are serious contenders for the title,” said Sehwag.

Another thing that can go against India is the lack of time to get fresh after the England tour. The likes of Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Shikhar Dhawan and others returned to India after the fifth Test ended on September 11. And the Men in Blue will open their campaign on September 18 against Hong Kong. On the very next day, they will take on Pakistan.

And Sehwag feels that playing back to back matches in Dubai will prove to be a challenge and should have been avoided.

“International players these days have the ability to switch easily between different formats. So playing the Asia Cup just after the England Test series won’t be a huge problem. But I don’t like the scheduling of back-to-back matches in this day and age when cricketers are already travelling and playing around the year. The reason is that you don’t get enough rest between matches which could affect your performance on the field,” said Sehwag.

The Asia Cup, meanwhile, gets underway on September 15 with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh taking on each other.