New Delhi: Indian skipper Virat Kohli has been rested for the Asia Cup starting on Sept. 15, with fellow batsman Rohit Sharma set to lead the team in the 50-over tournament in the United Arab Emirates, the country's cricket board announced on Saturday.
"Rohit Sharma will lead the side while Shikhar Dhawan has been named vice-captain."
Despite his injury issues amid a heavy workload, Kohli has excelled in England scoring two centuries in the test series.
After losing the first two tests, India sealed a 203-run win in the third match to cut England's lead to 2-1 and are confident of levelling the series in Southampton where the fourth test was going into its third day on Saturday.
India begin the defence of their Asia Cup crown on Sept. 18 with a match against a qualifying team. They play arch-rivals Pakistan the following day.
India squad for Asia Cup: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Khaleel Ahmed.