Asia Cup 2023: KL Rahul And Shreyas Iyer Return, Tilak Varma Also Selected

In what will be great news for Indian cricket fans, injured batting duo of KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer have been selected for the upcoming Asia Cup 2023 tournament, which gets underway on August 30. Both Rahul and Iyer have been given the ‘green light’ by National Cricket Academy (NCA) doctor Dr Nitin Patel to return to international cricket.

India have dropped Sanju Samson and even Yuzvendra Chahal have been dropped but youngsters Tilak Varma has got his first call-up into the Indian ODI side. Suryakumar Yadav has been retained in the ODI side as well.

“We have got luxury of picking 17 members. We saw some real promise, not just performance but temperament. It will be good exposure for him. When time comes to pick team for World Cup, we can take call on this,” chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar told the media on Monday.

Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (VC), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna

Traveling stand-by_

— BCCI (@BCCI) August 21, 2023

Sanju Samson will be travelling as a back-up for KL Rahul as he has developed a niggle. “Shreyas Iyer has been declared completely fit but KL Rahul has developed a niggle and that’s why Sanju Samson will be travelling as backup. We have got time till September 5 to pick the squad for World Cup, so we’ll take call on him later,” Agarkar added.

All-rounder Hardik Pandya has been picked as the Hardik Pandya as the vice-captain of the side ahead of Jasprit Bumrah, who is currently leading the side in the T20I series in Ireland.

Captain Rohit Sharma said that there are no such things as ‘favourites’ or ‘underdogs’ in big tournament like Asia Cup 2023. “No such thing as being favourites, or underdogs, as far as our prep is considered, this tournament is to challenge us, put ourselves under pressure, getting together as a group and doing well,” Rohit Sharma said on Monday.

Rohit also added that the door is not closed for someone like Yuzvendra Chahal. “We only have 17 players to fill for the Asia Cup. It was also a call about who can bat at the No. 7 position. Door is not closed for anyone for the World Cup, Chahal is a great white-ball player and he can definitely make a comeback for the World Cup,” Rohit added.

India squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (VC), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna

Backup: Sanju Samson (WK)