Asia Cup 2018: India favourites to defend title, says Sourav Ganguly

India may not be the same side without Virat Kohli but stand-in-skipper Rohit Sharma has enough abilities as a captain to lead India to their seventh Asia Cup title, feels former India captain Sourav Ganguly.

Skipper Kohli, who played all of the matches in a gruelling two-month tour in England that included three T-20s, three ODIs and a five-match Test series, has been rested for the six-nation limited overs tournament. In his place, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav and Ambati Raydu have been included in the squad, to be led by Rohit.

“India could not do that well in England but in limited overs, they are a top side. The 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),” said Ganguly, a former India captain.

Eyes will also be on MS Dhoni, who returns to action almost two months after the bilateral series against England, where he drew a lot of flak for his poor strike-rate and poor form.

Also Read: Asia Cup 2018: Full schedule of matches

Meanwhile, India with six Asia Cup title is the most successful team in the competition. They have won six out of 13 editions of the tournament, including the previous edition, which was played in the T-20 format.

Led by Rohit, India begins their campaign against Hong Kong on September 18 and will play Pakistan on the following day.

Also Read: Asia Cup 2018: Rohit Sharma excited to lead in his first full tour