4 Players who can be a surprise inclusion in India's Asia Cup squad

After the culmination of India's long tour to Ireland and England on September 11, the Men in Blue will be back in business with some white-ball cricket in the form of the Asia Cup, which begins September 15. The multi-nation tournament will be a 2-week affair with the final scheduled to take place on September 28 at Dubai Cricket International Stadium in Dubai.

India start as favourites as they will look to defend their title from 2016. It could well be the most competitive tournament in the history as top six teams would look to battle it out against each other to be eventually crowned as the Champions. With such a close competition expected, no team would leave any stone turned to put their best squads going into the tournament.

Even Indian selectors, when they meet on Saturday to select the team, would want to go with a full-fledged Indian squad. However, with many impressive performances seen in the past couple of months, they could spring in a few surprises with their selection.

Let's take a look at some of the players who can be roped in as a surprise inclusion for the Asia Cup:

---

#4 Rishabh Pant

The flamboyant Indian wicket-keeper batsman, who recently made his debut in whites for India against England, is one of the most promising youngsters coming through the ranks. It was on the back of his exceptional performances at the under-19 and state level and IPL as well, that he was awarded his maiden Test call-up in England.

To add to his cause, Pant was also the Orange Cap holder in the last IPL season, playing for Delhi Daredevils. Pant might not have the best hands when it comes to his effectiveness behind the wicket but he is definitely the future of Indian cricket. Given his attacking batting approach, selectors might be tempted to rope in Rishabh Pant as a specialist batsman to solve India's middle muddle in the batting order.

#3 Manish Pandey

After a dismal run of play in the last IPL season, Manish Pandey was shown the way out of the Indian team from the limited-overs format. The Karnataka-lad faced a lot of criticism for not performing to the best of his abilities and failing to understand his role as a middle-order batsman.

However, the 28-year old has been in sublime form off-late, with some crucial knocks for India A and India B in the domestic circuit. Pandey has raised certain eyebrows for producing match-defining knocks, asking the national selectors to rope him on the basis of his recent exploits.

It will be hard for the selectors to ignore his Bradmanesque-average in seven of his last ten innings, where Manish has remained unbeaten to coast his side to victory. In the recently concluded Quadrangular series, he guided his team to the title remaining unbeaten in the final.

#2 Krunal Pandya

The elder of the Pandya-brothers, Krunal has produced some outstanding numbers in the limited overs format of the game at the domestic level in recent times. On the back of his notable performances, he even got a maiden India call-up during the T20I series against England but failed to make it into the playing XI. A decent all-rounder, Pandya shot to fame with his performances for Mumbai Indians in the IPL.

A valuable cricketer, Pandya relies more on his batting skills and possesses an ability to tonk the ball hard. A stroke-maker by choice, Krunal could well provide the exact balance to the side with his few overs of left-arm orthodox spin. Being one of the main contenders for a spot in India's squad for the Asia cup, Krunal's biggest challenge will be to justify the selection by producing persisting performances.

#1 Mayank Agarwal

This season has seen the coming off age for the Karnataka-born lad. Being one of the most consistent performers in the past one year, Agarwal has often been ignored by the selectors for the selection at the highest level. This couldn't get any better for Mayank to find a spot in the Asia Cup squad. A naturally attacking batsman, he is a tried and tested opener in all circumstances.

His recent exploits for India B in the quadrangular series was just a testimony of the form he currently fancies. Even for India A in the 4-day format, Mayank registered runs at a brisk pace to empower his side with good starts in unfavourable circumstances. After he failed to impress the selectors to find a berth in India's Test squad for Final two Test matches, the 27-year old hopes to enjoy his game as he continues to put in a lot more effort to make a cut into the Indian national squad.