'They’ve got so much firepower'- Shane Watson predicts the winner of the Asia Cup 2022

Former veteran Australian all-rounder Shane Watson has come up with his prediction for the winner of the upcoming Asia Cup 2022 commencing on the 27^th of August later this week. Afghanistan and Sri Lanka will lock horns in the inaugural encounter of the tournament. Whereas India will take on the arch-rivals Pakistan in the much-anticipated match on the 28^th of August (Sunday) at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

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Recently, Shane Watson was in a conversation with the Indian sports broadcaster Sanjana Ganesan. During this conversation, he opened up about his first choice and prediction of the winner of this multi-team continental tournament.

That first game is going to be very special to watch - Shane Watson

“My predicted winner is India. That first game is going to be very special to watch because Pakistan has full belief now that they can beat this Indian team. I think, really, whoever wins that game is going to go on and win the Asia Cup. I’ve just got a feeling India . 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,” said Watson in his statement.

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Notably, India has lifted the title of Asia Cup seven times and they are also the defending champions of the tournament. The last time, they played under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma was four years back in 2018. The men in blue registered an emphatic title win in the 14^th edition of the Asia Cup.

But now the then stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma will be in the role of regular and full-time skipper for the Indian team. Indians will be looking on to clear their account with Pakistan for the defeat they faced last time during the T20 World Cup 2021. Whereas the men in green will also be eyeing to register the second consecutive win against India in any major international multi-team tournament.

Speaking of the Asia Cup 2022, it was earlier scheduled to be played in Sri Lanka but later on, the authorities shifted it to the United Arab Emirates due to the political unrest in the island country.