Asia Cup T20: India squad, Preview: Men in Blue favourites to win sixth title

New Delhi: Under the captaincy of MS Dhoni, India are the team to beat at the Asia Cup 2016. The Men in Blue have been in sublime form of late having won back-to-back T20I series against Australia and Sri Lanka.

In the batting department, India have world class top four batsmen in Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane. Rahane is likely not to feature in the playing XI in the Asia Cup, since India would want to play Hardik Pandya, who gives Dhoni another bowling option.

The middle order will be strengthened by Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni and Pandya himself. With Jadeja batting at number eight, India have a lot of depth in their batting.

The bowlers at Dhoni's disposal aren't too bad either with R Ashwin emerging as one of the finest spinners in all the formats on sub-continental tracks lately. Jadeja too, has been brilliant on turning tracks and these two are expected to wreak havoc the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.

India's pace department isn't one of the best with Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami being the only three pacers in the squad. Shami is yet to fully recover from injury and it remains to be seen whether the trio can feature together in the playing XI.

India have won the tournament on five occasions in the past and with an in-form team, Dhoni & Co have a very bright chance of clinching their sixth title.

ICC T20I Ranking: 1

Coach: Ravi Shastri

15-man squad: Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Suresh Raina, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Pawan Negi, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan