After landing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the Asia Cup 2018, former captain MS Dhoni was seen supervising the team India’s practice session at the ICC Academy. Head coach Ravi Shastri and some of the other team members, including support staff following the long England tour are yet to reach the UAE. And thus, Dhoni oversaw the practice session. Rohit Sharma will lead the team India in absence of regular captain Virat Kohli, who was rested for the 2018 Asia Cup. Asia Cup 2018 Schedule in PDF for Free Download: Timetable With List of All Matches in IST Including India vs Pakistan Fixture.

To prepare for the tournament, BCCI sent five India A bowlers- Avesh Khan, M Prasidh Krishna, Siddarth Kaul, Shahbaz Nadeem, and Mayank Markande. Meanwhile, reportedly, Dhoni during his practice session faced spinners mostly. The former captain recently has struggled against the spin bowling.

India are in Group A along with rivals Pakistan and Hong Kong. The Rohit Sharma-led side will face Hong Kong in their opening match on September 18 and then the next day, in a challenging clash, face Pakistan. It will be interesting to see how Indian players respond as they play back to back matches in the Dubai heat. Asia Cup 2018 Points Table: Know Group A & B, Round of 4 Standings As India, Pakistan Begin Tournament As Favourites!

India are the defending champions of Asia Cup, having won the last edition in T20 format after defeating Bangladesh in the final. India have won record six Asia Cup titles while Sri Lanka have emerged victorious five times. Pakistan have lifted the trophy twice. This is the 14th edition of the Asia Cup.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 16, 2018 06:24 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).