Better side India will not miss Virat Kohli, asserts Sourav Ganguly

After a long tour of England, India decided to leave Kohli out of the Asia Cup squad for some well deserved rest. The Indian skipper had suffered a back injury in the fourth Test but decided to take part in the last one at the Oval. However, Ganguly believes that the Indian team has enough fire power to beat Pakistan without their skipper, who averages a cool 45.90 against Pakistan.

“Virat Kohli's absence won't be a factor, they are a better side," Ganguly told PTI.

Rohit Sharma will replace Kohli as the stand in skipper for the Asia Cup just as he had done in the Nidahas Trophy early on in the year. The last time India faced Pakistan was in Champions Trophy in England in 2017, where Pakistan won the match against India by 180 runs despite having lost the group encounter by 124 runs (DLS).

Another concern for India going into the Pakistan game will be the fact that they would have played their opening match, against Hong Kong, less than 24 hours before. Pakistan, on the other hand, has already secured their first points with an eight wicket win over Hong Kong on September 16.