Asia Cup 2018: BCCI announces final squad; Virat Kohli rested, Rohit Sharma named captain, Khaleel Ahmed new face

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the final squad for the upcoming Asia Cup 2018. Skipper Virat Kohli has been rested while Rohit Sharma, who was dropped from the Indian tour of England will take over the captaincy duties from Kohli. Manish Pandey has also made the cut for the Asia Cup 2018, while Dinesh Karthik has also been selected in the final team.

Many eyebrows have been raised as flamboyant wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant failed to make it to the final team.

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"Considering the workload we have given Virat Kohli rest. He has been playing continuously for quite some time. We need to preserve some of our precious players who are playing all 3 formats, looking at that workload we have started with Virat &vhe will be rested for Asia Cup," said BCCI.

While Rajasthan bowler Khaleel Ahmed has been handed a debut call-up to the team.

"There are two, three slots we are yet to see before we fix the final team for the World Cup and one of the slots is a seamer slot which is available. We are looking at a left-hander option in Khaleel Ahmed," said MSK Prasad, BCCI Chief selector.

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Veteran MS Dhoni also returns to the side while Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul keep their place in the squad.

Here is the complete Indian Squad for the Asia Cup 2018:

Rohit Sharma(C), Shikhar Dhawan (VC), KL Rahul, AT Rayudu, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Kuldeep Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Y Chahal, Akshar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur and Khaleel Ahmed

Asia Cup is scheduled to start from September 15 in Dubai. India will open the tournament against Bangladesh on the opening day.