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After an extended wait, Team India announced their 17-member squad for Asia Cup 2023 earlier this week.
The Rohit Sharma-led squad features both Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul, who will be making their respective comebacks from injury. However, BCCI chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar also revealed that the former is carrying a niggle not related to his earlier injury, and hence Sanju Samson is in the team as a backup.
While Suryakumar Yadav retains his place in the ODI team despite an abysmal record in the format, young Tilak Varma has been handed his maiden ODI call-up after having impressed on his T20I debut in West Indies. Both Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna, who made their comebacks in Ireland, also find a place in the Asia Cup squad.
The biggest takeaway from India’s Asia Cup squad is of course the axing of experienced leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, with the selectors and team management preferring the trio of Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel
In the wake of the squad announcement, here’s a SWOT analysis of India’s Asia Cup 2023 team.
Strengths: Impressive bowling line-up
On paper, India have a well-rounded bowling attack despite the lack of an off-spinner or a leg-spinner. Bumrah was excellent on his comeback. Even though one should not read too much into his performances against Ireland, his bowling fitness was highly encouraging. He ran in hard, bowled fast, and got his yorkers right. It never seemed that he was away from international cricket for 11 months.
Krishna also did a good job in the two matches in Ireland. He too looked in decent shape, having recovered from a lumbar stress fracture. Left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep has been in excellent form over the last few months. It’s no surprise that he has been picked ahead of Chahal in India’s Asia Cup squad although one must say the latter did not do much wrong to be dropped.
Kuldeep can make up for the absence of a right-arm spinner since he can turn the ball both ways and can be equally effective. Jadeja and Axar are more defensive bowlers. However, if they can keep things tight and build pressure, wickets can fall at the other end.
Among other bowlers, pacer Mohammed Siraj has excelled across formats over the last year, while Mohammed Shami is highly underrated as an ODI fast bowler.
Weaknesses: Inconsistency in batting
There has been a sense of inconsistency in India’s batting, which has been hurting them in recent times. While skipper Rohit seems to have rediscovered his rhythm over the last few months, he would be keen to lead from the front with the willow and make big contributions heading into the World Cup.
The Asia Cup will be crucial for Shubman Gill. Following his stupendous success in the IPL, he has gone off the boil. There have been a couple of impressive performances, but overall he has been poor, starting with the World Test Championship (WTC) against Australia at The Oval.
The ODI form of all-rounder Hardik Pandya is also a concern. He struggled to get going in the West Indies and looked completely out of sorts with the bat in hand. Pandya needs to increase his strike rate because his slow batting has been hurting India. And he cannot overcome an underwhelming start on each occasion.
Opportunities: Players can strengthen their World Cup case
Given the nature of India’s batting in recent times, a few fringe players have a chance to stake a claim in the World Cup squad. Tilak Varma does not have much international experience, but he has shown good temperament in the few matches he has played for India and in the IPL. A couple of fine knocks in the Asia Cup could get the selectors thinking.
Suryakumar is extremely lucky to be retained in the squad. His ODI record doesn’t merit him a place. Having said that, he can repay the faith with some good knocks in the Asia Cup. And if Ishan Kishan does well if given opportunities, the selectors will have to consider his case as well.
Threats: Question mark over players returning from injury
Both Shreyas and Rahul have been handed comebacks from injury. But question marks over them will remain considering the fact that they haven’t played international cricket in a while.
If they do not rediscover their batting rhythm soon enough in the Asia Cup, India’s World Cup preparations could be thrown out of gear. The worry is even greater in the case of Rahul, who has picked up another niggle after recovering from his thigh injury.
