India's Asia Cup Side Lacks What Rohit Sharma's T20 World Cup-Winning Side Had: Kaif Explains How

The Asia Cup 2025 will be a big testing ground for the Suryakumar Yadav-led Indian cricket team. Without Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, this will be India's first multi-nation limited-overs event. While Kohli and Rohit retired from T20Is after the T20 World Cup, they last played at the Champions Trophy. Now, Suryakumar's Team India has the onus on them to take the legacy forward, and the Asia Cup 2025 is their first major test. The ACC Asia Cup is set to begin on Tuesday with Afghanistan facing Hong Kong. India will face the UAE the following day. The tournament will run until September 28 and will feature eight teams battling it out for the coveted trophy.

The continental showpiece, which has been played on a rotational basis between ODIs and T20Is since 2016, will be played in the T20I format and will serve as important preparation for all participants ahead of next year's ICC Men's T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.

Former India star Mohammad Kaif says that the Asia Cup side lacks all-rounders. “Rohit's team won the T20 World Cup with 3 all-rounders—Axar, Jadeja, Hardik—and that meant 6 proper bowling options and batting till 8. At Asia Cup, with only 2 genuine all-rounders—Hardik and Axar—India will have to find a new winning combination. Washington Sundar will be missed,” he posted on X.

Indian bowling coach Morne Morkel also stressed the importance of all-rounders delivering with both bat and ball ahead of the Asia Cup opener against the UAE. He emphasized that all-rounders need to put in hard work to show their skills in both departments, highlighting their crucial role in the team's success.

"For me, it's always important to see Shivam [Shivam Dube] as a guy who can bowl four overs. I'm always pushing for all-rounders or those guys to work hard on both skills. Sometimes guys can get a little bit naughty in practice or focus just on one. Here in this environment, we want to leave no stone unturned. On the day, we're going to need somebody to do the work for us," Morkel told the media.

Morkel also stressed the importance of developing part-time bowlers, which gives the team many more options in terms of combinations for selection in the playing XI.

"Yes, we'll have our front-line guys who can attack. But if we can keep on developing part-time guys to do a job, it gives us many more options in terms of combinations for selection and stuff like that. So it's important that once guys have those skills, they keep working on them daily to improve and get better," he added.

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Mohammad Kaif Rohit Sharma Virat Kohli Asia Cup 2025 Cricket