Key takeaways from India's Asia Cup 2023 squad

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.

Big calls made as India announce Asia Cup squad

The Rohit Sharma-led side is 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’d likely field for the World Cup.

We look at some of the key takeaways from the squad which was announced on Monday, 21 August.

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.

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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.

The duo had undergone successful surgeries and were rehabilitating at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and recently featured in match simulation training there.

At present, Iyer has achieved 100% 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.

India’s Chairperson of the Senior Men’s Selection Committee, Ajit Agarkar said during the press conference following the team release, “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’re all expecting him to be fit. If not at the start of the Asia Cup, maybe the second or the third game.”

India wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik had raised questions about India’s fourth pace bowling option for the upcoming World Cup. With the mega event set to be played in India, it is quite likely that India’s squad would feature no more than four fast bowlers other than Hardik Pandya.

Karthik had asked questions pertaining to India's pace options during the Cricket World Cup commercial shoot with Emirates.

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“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?”

With the selection of Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna for the Asia Cup, it seems that the duo are India’s preferred choices for the fourth pace option.

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 have struggled with a settled middle-order combination of late, 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 believed that it was a question of his batting unit delivering as a whole, he added that the upcoming games were a good opportunity for the batters to make their case for the global event.

“It’s not about number four. It’s about top three and then four, five, six, seven to get the job done. It’s not just one position that can win us the game or the tournament,” Rohit said. “It’s about the entire batting unit getting the job done.”

“We’ve got six and three, nine ODIs, plus the two practice games before we play our first game (in the World Cup). So we’ve got a lot of games, where these guys can bat and make this position their own.”

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 West Indies, was left out of the side.

Agarkar discussed how it would've been difficult to fit in two wrist-spinners into the squad.

"Kuldeep's had a fantastic run at this point. To fit in two wrist-spinners, might have been difficult. At this point you can only fit 15 (for the World Cup). To fit two wrist-spinners (would've been difficult). So unfortunately one of them would've to miss out and at this point, Kuldeep is a little bit ahead of him."

While it seems quite likely that these three left-arm spin options, two orthodox and one unorthodox, will likely feature in India's World Cup squad, no one has been ruled out officially.

Rohit added that spots might still open up. "No doors are closed for anyone. Anyone can come in at anytime. Chahal has played a lot of cricket, lot of white-ball cricket. If we feel like we need him for the World Cup, we can try and squeeze him. Same with (Ravichandran) Ashwin or Washy (Washington Sundar)."

Along with speculations and uncertainty around India's number four position, some experts including former India coach Ravi Shastri had suggested that the team could try out Virat Kohli at that position.

Rohit, however, clarified that the players would largely stick to their designated positions.

"The opener bats at the position of an opener. The number three batter bats at number three. KL Rahul used to bat at number five, that is the position, he'd stick to. Hardik bats at six, and that's where he'll come. Same with Jadeja at seven.

"At times we can switch between numbers four and five. That kind of flexibility is okay. And the same happened to us, when we came into the side. All youngsters have batted at all positions. That's the flexibility I believe in. You can't send an opener at number eight, or send the number eight player to open. We don't believe in that kind of madness."

Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna.

Travelling reserve: Sanju Samson