Earlier this week, BCCI announced India's full-strength squad for the Asia Cup 2022, slated to be held in the UAE from August 27 to September 11.
The team will be led by Rohit Sharma while senior batters Virat Kohli and KL Rahul have returned to the line-up as was expected in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup 2022, scheduled to be played in Australia later this year.
If Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel were not ruled out due to injuries, then India's Asia Cup squad could have been the exact one that will take part in the T20 World Cup.
The Men in Blue will open their Asia Cup 2022 campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on August 28 in Dubai.
With two weeks to go for the marquee event, former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting has tipped Team India as favourites to win the multi-nation tournament while also predicting the Rohit-led side to beat Pakistan in its opening match.
"I'll stick with India to win that clash (August 28 match) against Pakistan. That's taking nothing away from Pakistan because they are an incredible cricket nation that continues to present out-and-out superstar players," Ponting said in the latest episode of The ICC Review.
The batting legend also pointed out that India are a tough opponent to beat in any tournament, not just in the Asia Cup.
"It's always hard to go past India in any tournament, not just an Asia Cup, but I think every time we talk about the T20 World Cup which is coming up, I think that India will be right in the thick of it there," Ponting said.
"Their depth is definitely better than the other teams and I think India will win the Asia Cup," he added.
Meanwhile, Ponting also shared his thoughts on fast bowler Mohammed Shami being overlooked for the upcoming Asia Cup, which will be played in a T20I format.
Notably, Shami has not played for India in T20Is since the last T20 World Cup. While playing for Gujarat Titans in the IPL 2022, he claimed 20 wickets in 16 games.
However, the 31-year-old pace was ignored for the Asia Cup despite the injuries to Bumrah and Harshal.
"He's been a very, very good bowler for India for a long time now. If you look at his strengths, his Test cricket is probably where he thrives the most. I think there are better fast bowlers in Indian T20 cricket than Shami and they've only named three (for the Asia Cup). So if there's potentially four named in the squad he might be the fourth man in," Ponting said.
"I would think they'll probably only have the four quicks coming to Australia. They'll still want to bring a lot of spin here even though the wickets are probably not that conducive," he further remarked.
(With IANS inputs)
