‘How can he come in this team?’: Ex-chief selector on star player’s inclusion in India squad for Asia Cup
The BCCI selection committee revealed a 15-member Team India squad for the forthcoming Asia Cup 2022 edition on Monday (August 08). The tournament will be held in the UAE with India, the defending champions, to begin their campaign versus arch-rivals Pakistan on August 28.
This time around, the Asia Cup will be held in the shortest format — the second time in the tournament’s history — as a dress rehearsal for the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia, in October-November. India’s squad sees the return of senior pros Virat Kohli and KL Rahul whereas Jasprit Bumrah missed out due to a back injury. Nonetheless, former chief selector and keeper-batter Kiran More was unimpressed seeing R Ashwin hold onto his spot, who was recalled for the West Indies T20Is.
“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,” More said on Star Sports.
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Ashwin’s case has been a curious one. He was recalled into the T20I squad after a four-year hiatus right before the 2021 T20 World Cup. While he played three games in the showpiece event, he straightaway got his next game in the format during the recently-concluded WI tour. Reportedly, he was not part of the home white-ball series versus the Windies and Sri Lanka, held early this year, due to an injury. Further, he also missed out on being part of the squad who won the three T20Is versus hosts England, 2-1, during the recent trip to the United Kingdom.
India’s Asia Cup squad: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Deepak Hooda, Yuzvendra Chahal
Stand-by players: Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel and Deepak Chahar have been named as standbys.
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