Who Will Win Asia Cup 2022? – Predictions From Shane Watson and Shahid Afridi

Taking the excitement of cricket fans on top, the upcoming tournament Asia Cup 2022 is going to begin on August 27 and is scheduled to conclude on September 11. Amidst the ongoing predictions and expert points of view, Shane Watson, a veteran Australian cricketer has shared his predictions of the winning team of the tournament.

In an interview with the International Cricket Council (ICC), Watson made some interesting revelations about Asia Cup 2022, one of them being his thought about the winner of the tournament. According to the veteran cricketer, there are many strong teams in the tournament with India and Pakistan being the most favored. However, he predicted and picked India as the winner of the tournament.

Watson told ICC in the interview,

My predicted winner is India. They’re so strong and depending on what the conditions are, they adapt easily to conditions.

He also stated the biggest threat to India’s win which he considers to be Pakistan and said that the match between both the countries on 28th August would be won by India. 

Watson is not alone to make comments on the winning team in Asia Cup 2022. Shahid Afridi, former Pakistan Cricket Team captain, has also come up with a pinch of prediction. During his conversation session with his followers on Twitter, ‘#ASKLala’ (the veteran player is popularly known by this name in Pakistan). A fan asked Afridi, 

Which is the stronger team in Pakistan Vs India match and who do you think will win?

Afridi replied to the tweet saying,

Depends on who makes the least mistakes.

Notably, India has been on a winning spree after the end of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup last year winning over 19 out of 24 T20 international matches under the leadership (captaincy) of Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid.

On the other hand, this time Rahul Dravid is going to be on rest as he is down with Covid-19 and he is replaced by the chief of the National Cricket Academy VVS Laxman as the interim head coach of the Indian cricket team for the tournament. 

This is to also be noted that Laxman was with Team India during the Zimbabwe tournament. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) made the announcement of the mentioned development on Wednesday, using their Twitter handle stating, 

  VVS Laxman named interim Head Coach for Asia Cup 2022.

BCCI has also released an official statement with the tweet in which it mentioned that VVS Laxman, Head Cricket, NCA will be the interim Head Coach for Team India (Senior Men) for the upcoming ACC Asia Cup 2022, to be played in the UAE.

Further talking about Laxman’s previous innings with Team India and Dravid’s health conditions, the board said, 

VVS Laxman, Head Cricket, NCA will be the interim Head Coach for Team India (Senior Men) for the upcoming ACC Asia Cup 2022, to be played in the UAE. Laxman, who traveled with the Indian team that played the ODI series in Zimbabwe will oversee the team’s preparation in the absence of Rahul Dravid, who tested positive for COVID-19 before the team’s departure to the UAE. Dravid will join the team once he tests negative and is cleared by the BCCI Medical Team.

The statement added, 

Laxman has linked up with the squad in Dubai along with vice-captain KL Rahul, Deepak Hooda, and Avesh Khan, who traveled from Harare.

Although, as the information related to the tournament keeps on updating, cricket fans cannot hide excitement and exchange conversations about the same on social media. However, the exchanges brought a shock for the fans as it was about Team India Virat Kohli being injured and getting dropped out of the playing list. Later, it turned out to be a rumor as the information was fake and Virat Kohli is not injured at all.