India suffer huge setback ahead of Asia Cup 2022

• India's coach Rahul Dravid tests COVID positive.
• His participation in Asia Cup remains doubtful.
• India's first match will be against Pakistan.

With the T20 Asia Cup right around the corner, the Indian cricket team's preparation took a hit Tuesday after their coach Rahul Dravid tested positive for COVID-19 — leaving his participation in the international tournament in doubt.

Indian media reported that the former skipper's test came out positive before the Men In Blue's departure to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — where the Asia Cup will take place.

The head coach also took a break after recent trips to England and the West Indies with VVS Laxman taking charge for the Harare series, where India completed a 3-0 ODI series clean sweep.

India also suffered a setback last week when they announced their squad for the tournament and excluded Jasprit Bumrah — who failed to recover from an injury. 

Yorker specialist Bumrah played eight T20Is in 2021. The right-arm pacer took 10 wickets at an average of 14.80. He recorded 2-10 as his best bowling figures in the last 12 months.

The 28-years-old pacer is considered one of the fiercest pacers in the world while having 69 wickets in 58 T20Is at an average of 19.46 so far. Against Pakistan in T20 World Cup 2021, he conceded 22 runs in his three overs. 

Squad

Rohit Sharma (captain), 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. 

Schedule

Aug 28 - vs Pakistan in Dubai at 7pm (PST)

Aug 31 - vs Qualifier (UAE, Kuwait, Singapore or Hong Kong) at 7pm (PST)

Super Four matches will be played from 3-9 September.