MASSIVE Problems for Team India ahead of Asia Cup

Coping up with the alienated conditions may create problems and will be a huge challenge.

The men in blue are on their England tour at the moment which ended recently. They are soon to set off for UAE who is hosting the Asia cup for this edition. However a bunch of problems await them on their way.

India are to play their first match against the Asia cup qualifiers Hong Kong on Tuesday. While half of the members of the declared squad including Rohit are already in the host country since Thursday, five of the members who were in the men in blue side for the England tour are expected to reach UAE on Sunday.

Rohit Sharma has been named as the skipper for the defending champions, India in place of Kohli who has been rested for the tournament.

Interestingly, the men in blue had last played a match on UAE soil back in 2006 against arch rivals, Pakistan in a two match ODI series which was drawn 1-1.

Pakistan would be extremely glad with the venue considering that it is their home ground ever since international matches ceased to happen in their own country.

Comparing the climate prevailing over there in the Arab with that in England, a contrasting difference can be vividly observed between the two. While the atmosphere there in the former is highly chilly, extremely hot and humid conditions are surrounding the latter.

The newly appointed skipper expressed his concern mainly over these two factors in the press conferences. He felt that it’s going to be a huge challenge for the players currently in England and migrating directly to UAE for the Asia cup.

The men in blue had a long and grueling England tour, playing cricket of all the prevailing formats- test matches, T20Is and ODIs. The Asia cup which is to start immediately after the tour could be tiring and cumbersome for those players – Rohit said.

Better execution of consistent cricket needs ample rest and practice for any player. The exhaustive series that recently ended may have induced enough practice in the players before their Asia cup campaign but has also drained the energy out of them in equal measure. So it would be interesting to see how the players hold their nerve and put up a smashing performance that is hugely expected of them.

“It’s not pleasant for sure. For the guys who were in England, it was a hectic tour and it is only fair that they go home and spend some time with their families and then come here.”

However, Rohit expressed his happiness to be back in the country after such a huge gap and despite the above mentioned problems is quite apprehensive of a good cricketing display from all the players. All the teams contesting for the cup are more or less in the same scenario and in addition to that the climate stays the same for all for which it won’t be much of a problem – the skipper added.

“I am very happy to be back here. I didn’t actually realize that we haven’t played here for the past 12 years. It is not easy but then weather is going to be same for all the teams. So we have to just focus on playing good cricket.”