Team India continues with their experimentation process as skipper Rohit Sharma was rested for the Asia Cup Super 4 clash against Afghanistan. Opener KL Rahul was named the stand-in captain in the absence of Rohit as India made three changes to their XI from the last match. The Men in Blue are already out of the race to Asia Cup 2022 final as Pakistan have reserved the place to face Sri Lanka on Sunday.
It hasn’t been an ideal tournament for India as they lacked balance in playing XI in the Super 4 matches so far. The strategy of playing with two pacers and Hardik Pandya as a fast-bowling all-rounder has backfired for India. Rohit also failed to utilize Deepak Hooda with the ball which raised questions about India’s selection policy.
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India have played dominant cricket in the T20I format this year but the Asia Cup hasn’t worked out well for them as several injuries in the camp also forced them to change their plan.
Rahul, at the toss, said that Rohit wanted to take a break as he suggested that playing in Dubai’s hot and humid conditions is not easy.
Live Score India vs Afghanistan Asia Cup Updates
“Rohit wants to take a break, playing back-to-back is not easy in these conditions. Yuzi (Chahal), Rohit and Hardik miss out. Chahar, Karthik and Axar come in,” Rahul said.
The fans were highly unimpressed with Rohit taking another rest as he has already missed several matches this year for India to manage his workload. While some also trolled Rahul for his below-par captaincy record.
#RohitSharma After every alternative matches..#INDvsAFG pic.twitter.com/Q545HyZLqZ
— Mithun Yaligar (@Mithunyaligar) September 8, 2022
Deepak Chahar to Rohit Sharma: Mein Cricket khel leta hun, Tu Dream 11 pe team bana le #RohitSharmaRested#INDvsAFG pic.twitter.com/bk2gEMau8o
— Venkatesh Don (@venkidon_iimb) September 8, 2022
@ImRo45 taking role reversal @Dream11 literally.. He is sitting and making #Dream11perhaps he might get right combination at least here @BCCI @JayShah @Ganguly99 #AsiaCup2022 #AsiaCupT20
— SapnaSays (@ModiFied_Dream) September 8, 2022
Can play 2 months of IPL straight in UAE without any rest! But need rest after 3 matches for National team.
.#RohitSharma #HardikPandya— Alok Tripathi (@maniac_doctor) September 8, 2022
If luck doesn’t work @ImRo45 pic.twitter.com/geNwIluXFa
— ️ (@Eagle_iscoming) September 8, 2022
And then KL Rahul will rest and Rohit Sharma will lead the team to the airport.
— SA (@sa_iamrebel) September 8, 2022
#INDvsAFG
Get ready to hear from #KLRahul at the end of the match:-We played good cricket today but at the end we couldn’t control our nerve. We are still learning. We have played good cricket recently you can’t judge us we have lost only three games. #AsiaCupT20 #AsiaCup2022— Kumar Priyavrat (@KumarPriyavrat3) September 8, 2022
KL Rahul on becoming skipper for #INDvsAFG match : pic.twitter.com/6J8Zz2NES3
— Nidhi Surana (@Nids_surana) September 8, 2022
India included Dinesh Karthik, Deepak Chahar and Axar Patel in the playing XI for the Afghanistan clash.
“Even coming into this tournament, we had the T20 World Cup in mind. It’s a good learning for us to play such a tournament before the World Cup. We have learnt a few things from the losses,” stated Rahul at the toss.
India (Playing XI): KL Rahul(c), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant(w), Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh
Afghanistan (Playing XI): Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi(c), Karim Janat, Rashid Khan, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fareed Ahmad Malik, Fazalhaq Farooqi
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