The BCCI has announced the 15-man squad for the upcoming Asia Cup which will begin shortly on 8th August. Rohit Sharma will be seen leading the team in this tournament. The squad saw a return of former Indian Captain Virat Kohli, who was rested for the West Indies and Zimbabwe tour.
Also, KL Rahul is back in the Indian Squad and will be seen in the role of Vice Captain. But this team selection surprised former Indian cricketer and also the former chairman of the selection committee Kiran More.
In his interview with Star Sports after squad revelation, he praised the team selection but questioned the selection of R Ashwin. More was seen of view that India should have either picked an extra seamer in Mohammed Shami or a spinner in Axar Patel in place of Ashwin.
“Even I was surprised. How can Ashwin even come in this team? And every time. Even in the last World Cup, he was picked in the team and then did not play. Look at his IPL record, it is not that good. I really felt Shami should have taken that role or Axar Patel. And Axar has performed very well. Shami is my player and he will go to the World Cup. I want wicket-taking bowlers. Shami can pick wickets with the new ball, in the middle overs and in the slog overs as well,” he said. He also praised the selection of Ravi Bishnoi in this squad.
Ashwin had been criticized earlier too for his selection in the squad:
Ashwin’s selection has been controversial many times before too. Earlier, Krishnamachari Srikkanth (former Indian Cricketer), questioned Ashwin’s very place in India’s T20I squad, pointing out his return to the white-ball set-up after a long gap of eight months.
In his interview with FanCode, he expressed, “It is a big question. Regarding Ashwin, I am totally confused. Why was he not dropped, then why was he not there, then did he not play the T20 in England and then suddenly why is he in the T20s for the West Indies? It is confusing for all of us. Because your first spinner is Jadeja. The second is Chahal or Axar Patel or Ashwin or there will be a reserve spinner. Out of these four, only two will go. Ideally…don’t know Ashwin…maybe because of his all-rounder capabilities. But my first option would be Chahal because he is the wrist spinner.”
Talking about the squad, Jasprit Bumrah misses out owing to his back injury. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, and Avesh Khan will be formulating a pace attack.
While, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Ravindra Jadeja and Deepak Hooda found a place in the squad and will form a spin attack. Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya are also included in the squad.