Asia Cup 2023 Indian Squad Announcement Live Updates: India Squad Asia Cup 2023 Live Updates: In a press conference by Team India’s skipper Rohit Sharma and Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar, BCCI announced its 17-member squad for the 2023 Asia Cup on 21st August.
Asia Cup 2023 will be organized in ODI format this year, in line with ODI World Cup 2023. It is being considered as a final practice towards the ICC Men’s World Cup.
Team India’s Fitness Woes
Since the T20 World Cup held last year in Australia, major Indian players have been in and out of the Squad owing to injuries. Jasprit Bumrah, Shreya Iyer, KL Rahul, and Rishabh Pant have been out of action for almost 8-9 months.
The team has been losing major tournaments and bilateral series without star players. With the return of Jasprit Bumrah in the Ireland tour, the team has been performing better.
KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer are yet to make a comeback after training at NCA, Bengaluru. Both are recovering from a thigh and a back injury respectively. Rishabh Pant has also started batting at training camps.
Shreyas Iyer-KL Rahul back, Tilak Varma receives maiden ODI call
Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul are strong contenders for middle-order batsmen. In the absence of these two players, Team has been struggling in the middle order. While Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav are trying to fill the void, they are still T20 specialists.
With Iyer and Rahul back in action, Squad looks strong and is one of the leading contenders for the title.
Meanwhile, IPL superstar for Mumbai Indian franchisee, Tilak Verman has received his maiden ODI call, that too in the prestigious Asia Cup. Tilak has already debuted in T20 on the West Indies Tour.
Tale of 3 Wicket keepers
With the comeback of KL Rahul, team India has got 2 options for Wicket Keepers. Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul are two permanent Wicketkeepers for the team, While Sanju Samson has been named as a backup player.
Ishan Kishan performed well in ODI matches in the recently concluded West Indies series.
Asia Cup 2023 Team India Squad
Team India Squad for the Asia Cup 2023:
| Rohit Sharma | Virat Kohli | Shubhman Gill |
| Shreyas Iyer | Suryakumar Yadav | KL Rahul |
| Tilak Verma | Ishan Kishan | Hardik Pandya |
| Ravindra Jadeja | Axar Patel | Shardul Thakur |
| Mohammed Shami | jasprit Bumrah | Mohammed Siraj |
| Prasidh Krishna | Kuldeep Yadav | Sanju Samson (backup) |
No clarity on number four
In the press conference, Rohit was asked about the number four batsman and he replied “We have guys who can bat at No.4. It is not one position … There have been challenges, guys who have been put under pressure, unfortunately, because of injuries, we have had to try others. We tried Axar at No.4 being a left-hander, go, bat freely.”
KL Rahul and Iyer are expected to bat at number 4. Let’s hope they recover completely before the Asia cup matches.
