The Indian team squad for the upcoming Asia Cup 2023 tournament is reportedly going to be picked on August 21, 2023, with captain Rohit Sharma also attending the selection meeting with chief selector Ajit Agarkar in Delhi.
The Asia Cup tournament is going to be held in a hybrid model from August 30 with four matches to be played in Pakistan including one Super Four Stage match and the remainder of the matches to be played in Sri Lanka, including those of the Indian team and the final.
India will play its group stage matches on September 2nd against Pakistan in Pallekele and on September 4 against Nepal at the same venue.
One of the major questions to be answered during the selection will be about KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer’s availabilities. Both the batters are crucial to India’s World Cup plans as well given that Rahul bats in the middle order and keeps wickets, while Iyer can attack spinners in middle overs and solves the no.4 issue.
News18 CricketNext has learnt that wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul is fit and available for selection and those tracking developments are “extremely positive” on Shreyas Iyer too.
“KL Rahul is fit and available for selection. He has been regularly batting and wicketkeeping and looks good fitness-wise. With regards to Shreyas Iyer, signs are extremely positive,” a source close to developments tells CricketNext.
In their absence, India tried Suryakumar Yadav, and Sanju Samson but both failed to cement their position.
Extra Spinner Or Batter And What About Tilak Varma?
While 14 players are reportedly confirmed to be picked in the Indian Asia Cup 2023 squad, the discussion will also be done on whether to take an extra spinner or a batter to the tournament. Also, whether Tilak Varma should be fast-tracked into ODIs or not should be one of the questions.
As per the report, Rohit, Shubman, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Shreyas Iyer (subject to fitness), Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel are the 14 automatic selections.
The big call is going to be on the 15th member and it remains to be seen whether the selectors and management opt for an extra spinner in Yuzvendra Chahal or beef up the batting with Suryakumar Yadav.
With regards to the fourth spinner, Washington Sundar and R Ashwin could come up for discussion too, as they added depth to the batting as well.
Tilak Varma had an excellent outing in his debut T20I series against West Indies, scoring a fifty and a score of 49*. The left-hander is a good option in the middle-order but it’s unlikely that this management will take the bold call. Not only with the bat, Varma is a handy spin option too, and can chip in with a few overs.
Likely Asia Cup squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Shreyas Iyer (subject fitness), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Ishan Kishan (WK), Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal/Washington Sundar/R Ashwin