Shane Watson predicts winners of Asia Cup 2022: 'They adapt easily to conditions'
Shane Watson is of the opinion that whichever team between India and Pakistan wins the fixture on Sunday will go on to win the Asia Cup 2022 tournament.
- SportFit
- 2 min read
Former Australia cricketer Shane Watson has revealed the name of his favourite team who will lift the Asia Cup trophy this year. The Asia Cup 2022 tournament gets underway on August 27 as India looks to defend the title in UAE. The Men in Blue will begin their campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday, August 28.
Shane Watson picks his favourite team for Asia Cup 2022
Speaking on ICC review, Shane Watson praised the Indian team stating that they can adapt to any condition and that is the reason he picked Rohit Sharma and Co. as his favourite to win the title. He said, “My predicted winner is India. They’re so strong and depending on what the conditions are, they adapt easily to conditions. That first game is going to be very special to watch because Pakistan have full belief now that they can beat this Indian team.”
Besides picking his favourite team for the tournament Watson was of opinion that whichever team wins India vs Pakistan fixture on Sunday will go on to win the tournament. The last time IND vs PAK match took place was at the 2021 T20 World Cup, where Pakistan beat India by 10 wickets. Watson said, “I think, really, whoever wins that game is going to go on and win the Asia Cup,” said the former all-rounder, speaking about the India-Pakistan clash. “[But] I’ve just got a feeling India [will win the tournament]. They’ve got so much firepower all the way through their batting order, so it’s going to be hard to be able to contain them,”.
India's Asia Cup 2022 schedule
India are in Group A along with Hong Kong and Pakistan and will begin their campaign on Sunday, August 28. After facing Pakistan, India next take on qualifiers Hong Kong on August 31 which will be their final match of the group stage. The 2022 edition of the Asia Cup will be played in a double round-robin format and will be followed by the summit clash. This year's tournament will be the 15th edition of the Asia Cup, and the T20 format is being used only for the second time in the tournament’s history after 2016. The final will be played in Dubai on September 11. India won the title seven times while Sri Lanka has won it five times. Pakistan has won the Asia Cup title only two times.