New Delhi [India] : India have been boosted by the return of some big names for the Asia Cup 2023. The tournament, beginning August 30, will effectively be the preparation ground for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, which will take place in India from October 5.
India will feature in the six-nation tournament which will be co-hosted by Pakistan and Sri Lanka. This contest will be among their last international assignments before the Cricket World Cup in October-November.
The Rohit Sharma-led side has been bolstered by the return of Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer to the ODI setup. The team will now have an opportunity to try out combinations which they would likely field for the World Cup.
Here are some of the key takeaways from the squad which was announced on Monday.
*Iyer and Rahul return, While Bumrah had already made a comeback in the T20I series against Ireland, the Asia Cup squad sees the return of Iyer and Rahul. The duo had missed out on cricketing action due to their respective injuries.
Iyer’s back troubles saw him miss cricketing action since March, while Rahul suffered a thigh injury during the Indian Premier League in May and had been out of action since then.
The two players had undergone successful surgeries and were rehabilitating at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and recently featured in match simulation training there.
Iyer has achieved 100 per cent fitness and is a certain starter for the event. On the other hand, the Karnataka batter Rahul picked up a niggle unrelated to his previous injury, and will be gradually eased back into the India setup.
“Shreyas has been declared as completely fit. Rahul’s been suffering from a niggle over the last few days, which is unrelated to his original injury. That’s why Sanju [Samson] is travelling at the moment. But at some stage, we are all expecting him to be fit. If not at the start of the Asia Cup, maybe the second or the third game,” Chairperson of the Senior Men’s Selection Committee, Ajit Agarkar said during a press conference, according to ICC.
*India’s fourth pacer option
India wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik has raised questions about India’s fourth pace bowling option for the upcoming World Cup. It is quite likely that India’s squad would feature no more than four fast bowlers other than Hardik Pandya.
“Who is the fourth medium pacer. We have Jasprit (Bumrah), we have (Mohammed) Shami and we have (Mohammed) Siraj. We are sure about all of these three, but who is going to be the fourth?,” the veteran asked, according to ICC.
With the selection of Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna for the Asia Cup, it seems that the duo are India’s preferred choice for the fourth pace option.
*India’s middle-order preferences are revealed
While India sees the return of regular ODI stars in Rahul and Iyer, they have also picked rising star Tilak Varma and T20I performer Suryakumar Yadav in the squad. India has struggled with a settled middle-order with a particular lack of clarity around the number four position. In the recently concluded ODI series against the West Indies, they tried three different batters at the position in as many games.
While India skipper Rohit Sharma felt that it was a question of his batting unit delivering as a whole and added that the upcoming games were a good opportunity for the batters to make their case for the global event.
“It is not about number four. It is about top three and then four, five, six, seven to get the job done. It is not just one position that can win us the game or the tournament. It is about the entire batting unit getting the job done,” Rohit said.
“We have got six and three, nine ODIs, plus the two practice games before we play our first game (in the World Cup). So we have got a lot of games, where these guys can bat and make this position their own,” he added.
*No place for Chahal
India went ahead with three spinners in their squad of 17, with Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav as the preferred choices. Yuzvendra Chahal, who last featured in an ODI in January this year and was also a part of the squad that toured the West Indies, was left out of the side.
