Contenders look too brittle to stop an Indian charge to glory at the Asia Cup

Contenders look too brittle to stop an Indian charge to glory at the Asia Cup (BCCI Photo)

If the other participants in the Asia Cup are looking for a crumb of comfort before taking on a formidable-looking India side, they may find it in what happened the last time the tournament was played in the T20 format, back in 2022. After beating Pakistan and Hong Kong in the first group stage, India lost to Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the Super Four, with those two teams going on to contest the final in Dubai. Granted, both were narrow defeats, off the penultimate ball, but they illustrated that marquee names alone – Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant and R Ashwin all played – are no guarantee of success.

But do those results from three years ago have any relevance? Not really. For one, India used to play an outdated, boring form of T20 back then. That tuk-tuk approach to building an innings was discarded after a 10-wicket thrashing by England in the T20 World Cup semifinal a few months later. Since a further change of personnel after winning the T20 World Cup in 2024, India have frequently threatened to score over 300 in an innings. If 2022 was chalk, they’re fine Swiss cheese now.

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The bowling too is unrecognisable. For one, Jasprit Bumrah – out injured then – is back. Arshdeep Singh is no longer a newbie, but India’s highest wicket-taker in the format. And in Kuldeep Yadav, India has a wrist-spinner good enough to befuddle any batting line-up.

Where will the threats come from? Sri Lanka doesn’t have the stars of old, but Charith Asalanka leads a squad with a wealth of all-round options. And in Sanath Jayasuriya, they have a coach who was an absolute master in the kind of conditions the teams are likely to encounter in Dubai.

Pakistan have shed a wealth of experience from their batting in favour of a more gung-ho approach, but even without Naseem Shah, they have a handy pace attack. More importantly, Sufiyan Muqeem’s left-arm wrist-spin has the potential to be a game-changer, especially on slow surfaces conducive to spin.

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Bangladesh have invested in Phil Simmons as coach, and asked Shaun Tait to guide a group of promising pace bowlers. But with Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah also having joined Tamim Iqbal in moving on, there is a newness and fragility to the batting.

The same can be said of Afghanistan, who boast tremendous resources in the spin department, led by the peerless Rashid Khan. But the batting can go from brilliant to flaky in the blink of an eye.

Any way you slice it, each of the contenders appears to have serious flaws. And on paper at least, an Indian side that can afford to leave out the likes of Shreyas Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal should coast to the title.