Former Pakistan Captain Salman Butt makes his pick for the India vs Pakistan clash in the Asia Cup 2022

Salman Butt (Image source- Twitter)

Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt believes India is the favourite to win the upcoming Asia Cup, which begins on August 27 in the United Arab Emirates. India will play Pakistan in their opening Asia Cup encounter on August 28 in Dubai.

Notably, India has won the previous two Asia Cups despite not fielding their first-choice team. Butt, while analysing India's prospects of winning the Asia Cup, remarked that the squad has a large pool of players, making them favourites to defend their title in the UAE.

"Yes, they can win the Asia Cup. Do they lack Vitamin C (laughs). The type of cricket they are playing, the pool of players they have, people will consider them as favourites," Butt said in a video uploaded on his YouTube channel.

Butt believes that Pakistan can beat any team on their day and refers to Afghanistan as the "dark horse". "But then there is Pakistan, who can beat any team on their day. Afghanistan are the dark horse as they can get bowled out easily but can also do the same to other teams," he added.

Previously, it was announced that Sri Lanka will host the Asia Cup. Due to the current economic crisis in Sri Lanka, the competition was moved to the United Arab Emirates. The six teams will be divided into two groups of three for the main competition.

India is in Group A with Pakistan, while the qualifier will grab the last berth. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka will compete in Group B for a spot in the Super 4. The Asia Cup will be contested in the T20 format this year.

India's Squad for Asia Cup 2022

Rohit Sharma (Capt ), KL Rahul (VC), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, R Pant (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, R Jadeja, R Ashwin, Y Chahal, R Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan

Injury Cover: Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel and Deepak Chahar