With the Asia Cup 2018 just being seven days away, the trophy of the mega tournament was unveiled on Friday in Dubai. It was the  Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Social Development head Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Cabinet Member and Minister of Tolerance and Emirates Cricket Board Chairman who unveiled the trophy. Placed in group A, with Pakistan and Hong Kong, India will play their first match on September 18, 2018.

Group B comprises Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The official account of the Indian team shared the video of the trophy being unveiled. “The Asia Cup Trophy unveiled in UAE. What do you make of this beautiful Trophy?" read the caption of the snap.

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

The Asia Cup Trophy unveiled in UAE. What do you make of this beautiful Trophy? 🏆😎👍🏻

A post shared by Team India (@indiancricketteam) on

India will be playing the tournament without Virat Kohli. Rohit Sharma will be leading the team in his absence. Addressing the media, BCCI chief selector, MSK Prasad said, "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 and he will be rested for Asia Cup." Rajasthan’s left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed was also included in the 16-member squad for the tournament. Rohit Sharma unfollows Virat 

The Squad:

Rohit Sharma (captain), Shikhar Dhawan (vc), K L Rahul, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Khaleel Ahmed.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 08, 2018 09:14 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).