India’s XI vs PAK Asia Cup 2022: Rishabh Pant dropped and Dinesh Karthik picked in India playing 11

IND vs PAK Asia Cup 2022: Rohit Sharma’s Team India will open their Asia Cup 2022 campaign against Pakistan in a high-octane clash in Dubai on Sunday (August 28). All eyes were on India’s Playing XI for the clash, specifically who will be skipper Rohit’s opening partner at the top.

Vice-captain KL Rahul has been picked as the second opener. He has an incredible average of 40.68 in T20Is and two centuries to his name in this format as well. With Pakistan missed Shaheen Shah Afridi due to injury, Rahul’s vulnerability against quality left-arm pacer early in the innings will not be exposed as well.

One Sleep Away [?]#TeamIndia all set for #AsiaCup2022 #AsiaCup pic.twitter.com/zGz6NaKmk6 — BCCI (@BCCI) August 27, 2022

However, Rahul has only recently made a comeback from injury followed by a bout of COVID-19. The other options for Team India will be to promote former captain Virat Kohli, who will be playing his 100th T20I match to the top of the order along side Rohit.

If the team management want to keep Kohli at No. 3, wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant can also be considered as an opener at the top to provide the side with a left-right batting combination.

Will Dinesh Karthik make the Playing XI?

The other headache for the Indian team will be fact if Dinesh Karthik can be considered for the role of a finisher ahead of Rishabh Pant. Veteran wicketkeeper Karthik had a brilliant run with Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL 2022 and could be a useful addition to the side.

However, bringing Karthik into the Playing XI will mean that KL Rahul in all likelihood will have to sit-out the clash with Kohli or Pant opening the innings.

Here’s what Team India’s Playing XI for clash against Pakistan in Asia Cup 2022 Group match

India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Dinesh Karthik(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh