Asia Cup 2018: Sourav Ganguly names the most likely winner of the championship

The 2018 Asia Cup is all set to get underway today on September 15 with the match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka at Dubai International Cricket Stadium. A total of 13 matches in the championship will be played for the next couple of weeks. The final is scheduled to be played on September 28 in Dubai after the league phase and the Super 4 rounds.

In the meantime, Sourav Ganguly, the former Indian captain, has touted the Men in Blue as the firm favourites to win this year’s event. India are the defending champions and will be captained by top-order batsman Rohit Sharma, replacing 29-year-old Delhi-born cricketer Virat Kohli, who has been rested as a part of BCCI’s workload management of the players.

Ganguly names his favourites

“India could not do that well in England but in limited overs they are a top side. Team is much stronger with Virat but Rohit has a very good record as captain so I expect him to do well too. They are capable of winning (the Asia Cup),” Ganguly was quoted as saying in Times Now.

As far as the Asia Cup is concerned, India are the most successful team having won six out of the 13 editions ever since the tournament’s inception in 1984. Thereafter, they won in 1998, 1990-91, 1995, 2010 and 2016, the year when the Asia Cup was played in a T20 format bearing in mind the World T20 in India that followed soon after.

This time around, the event in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is back to its 50-overs format and India are placed in Group A along with Hong Kong and Pakistan. They are scheduled to play their first match against Hong Kong on September 18 in Dubai after which Sharma and Co will cross sword with arch-rivals Pakistan at the very venue on the next day.

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