Dinesh Karthik leaves out Shikhar Dhawan, wants this player to captain India in Asian Games

BCCI is yet to take an official call on whether India will take part in Asian Games or not.

As per the reports, BCCI will be sending a second-string squad for the upcoming Asian Games in Hangzhou. Former Indian wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik has batted for Ravichandran Ashwin to be the captain of the second-string squad for the Asian Games.

Asian Games are scheduled to start on 23rd September and end on 8th October. India will open their World Cup 2023 campaign against Australia on 8th October. Dinesh Karthik said that Ashwin deserves to be the captain of the Indian team once in his career. BCCI is yet to take a final decision on Team India’s participation in the Asian Games. 

Dinesh Karthik bats for Ashwin

There were a few reports that Shikhar Dhawan might be picked to lead India's second-string squad. Talking about the leadership, Dinesh Karthik said, “Ravichandran Ashwin is arguably one of the greatest cricketers to have ever played the game. I think he deserves to captain India once, I genuinely believe that he has earned the right to be a captain of team India”. Ravi Ashwin has led Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League for two seasons and has not got an opportunity to lead the Indian team at the International level. If Ashwin is picked for the World Cup he will be out of the Asian Games contention automatically. 

If the BCCI gives the final yes to send their second-string squad for the Asian games, this will be the third occasion when India will be playing with two international teams taking part in two different events. In the 1998 Commonwealth games, India played with a second-string squad while the senior players were in Sharjah taking part in the Sahara Cup. In 2021, when senior members were busy playing a 5-match Test series in England, India toured Sri Lanka with a junior team and Shikhar Dhawan as captain. Indian senior team will be taking part in the World Cup Warm-up games during the Asian Games event.