Tilak Varma earned a maiden ODI call-up while Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul return, as India announced a 17-man squad for the 2023 Asia Cup.
Spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, meanwhile, has been excluded while Kuldeep Yadav has found a place back in the team.
Chairman of Selectors, Ajit Agarkar said that while this is not officially a preliminary squad, the team for the World Cup will be selected from among these players, meaning this might be the de facto preliminary squad for the World Cup.
Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar said ‘Pretty much on expected lines. People will always talk about one or two here and there but I think this is a top team. Excellent team. Probably the best we could have chosen.’
‘Unfortunately we can only select 17, we had considered Chahal but for now Kuldeep looks a little ahead. So unfortunately Chahal misses out, said Agarkar on one of the most successful limited overs spinners in the world, Chahal’s exclusion.
Sharma added ‘We thought about an offspinner as well, [R] Ashwin and Washy [Washington Sundar], but right now you see Chahal had to miss out because we could only pick 17 players.’
‘The only way we could have picked him was if one of the seamers was missing. We can’t do that because seamers are going to play a big role in the next two months. A few of them are coming back after a long time, so we wanted to have a good look at them, get them in and see what they have to offer. Having said that, no doors are closed on anyone. Anyone can come in anytime. If we feel like we need Chahal for the World Cup, we’ll see how we can squeeze him in, same goes for Washy or Ashwin.’
Agarkar spoke on Kl Rahul’s return to the team and status of his injury.
‘I wouldn’t be aware if they were fit and then broke down. Bumrah and Prasidh worked really hard and they look good now. Shreyas is fit, Rahul’s report might be released by the BCCI. It is a niggle, nothing to do with the injury he had. You can only follow what the medical people say and those are the top ones at the NCA.’
Team India Asia Cup Squad:
Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna
Reserve: Sanju Samson
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