3 Surprise selections in India squad for Asia Cup 2023

Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav’s inclusion in the Asia Cup 2023 squad has surprised many.

Team India have announced their 17-member squad for the upcoming Asia Cup in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. With this squad selection, they have also made their intentions and plans clear about the possible Indian World Cup squad. Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul will be making their much-awaited comebacks to the team after a long gap due to injuries. Their inclusion has brought India to almost full strength just a month before the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 in India. The selection panel under Ajit Agarkar, along with Indian team management, made a few surprise calls as well.

From Tilak Varma to Suryakumar Yadav, there were a few calls that surprised the Indian fans. Sanju Samson will be travelling with the Indian squad as a backup wicket-keeper. Ishan Kishan has been picked as a wicket-keeper batter and also as a possible opening batter option, along with captain Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill. Let’s have a look at the few other surprise-calls team India made for the upcoming Asia Cup. The World Cup squad will be picked on September 5.

Surprise selections in the India squad

1. Tilak Varma

When team management was not sure about Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul’s fitness for the upcoming big events, Tilak Varma’s name came up as India’s possible number 4 option in the middle order. He backed it up with his splendid show in West Indies in the five-match T20I series. His game impressed several former cricketers and team management enough to seriously consider him for the ODI format. Tilak has a great List-A stats with a staggering average of 56.18, and his inclusion came as a surprise as it was not expected that a player as young as Tilak would directly enter a big event.

2. Prasidh Krishna

Pacer Prasidh Krishna made his comeback along with Jasprit Bumrah in the ongoing Ireland series. He did a magnificent job with the new ball and earned his place back in the ODI squad. Krishna’s name was sidelined when he had a long injury, and it looked like selectors might not risk him for big events after giving him just three T20I games as preparation. But selectors have shown faith in him after his splendid opening spell against Ireland in the second T20I. Prasidh Krishna’s role will be crucial, along with that of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, in the Indian pace attack. Krishna has played 14 ODIs for India and picked up 25 wickets.

3. Suryakumar Yadav

One-day internationals are still a riddle to solve for India’s new-generation T20 international star, Suryakumar Yadav. Despite his consistent failures in the ODI format, selectors have once again shown trust in SKY and included him in the 17-member squad over wicket-keeper Sanju Samson. In the three ODI games he played against West Indies, Surya scored only 78 runs in the series. In his ODI career of 26 matches, Surya has scored only 511 runs at an average of just 24.11, with two fifty-plus scores. Everyone was surprised by Suryakumar Yadav’s name in the squad and Sanju Samson’s being shifted as a backup option.

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