Team India have suffered a huge blow ahead of the upcoming Asia Cup 2022. The Men in Blue will be without their head coach Rahul Dravid after the latter tested positive for Covid-19. The development comes just before the Indian team was set to jet off to the UAE for the continental tournament.
The former India skipper was not a part of the team-management for the recently-concluded three-match ODI series in Zimbabwe. In his absence, his former India teammate VVS Laxman had taken up the role of the head coach. Media reports have also suggested that the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and other members of the Indian team have already landed in the UAE for Asia Cup 2022.
A few other players like KL Rahul, Axar Patel, Avesh Khan, Deepak Hooda will be landing in Dubai soon after helping India clean sweep the ODI series in Zimbabwe. The three-match series ended on Monday (August 22). Asia Cup 2022 is scheduled to start on August 27 while India will open their campaign on August 28 when they lock horns against arch-rivals Pakistan.
VVS Laxman likely to replace Rahul Dravid:
With Rahul Dravid set to miss Asia Cup 2022 after his Covid-19 diagnosis, Laxman looks like the likeliest candidate to replace him in the dressing room. Laxman has filled in for Dravid on a couple of occasions in recent months. In June when Dravid and Team India’s Test players were in England, Laxman was the head coach for the T20I series in Ireland.
India are the defending champions and would be looking to defend their title. In the previous edition, Rohit Sharma had led the team to victory and will be eager to guide India to a record-extending 8th Asia Cup title.
India Squad:
Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan.
Standby: Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, Deepak Chahar.