Watch: Sunil Gavaskar looses his cool when asked about Ravi Ashwin's snub for Asia Cup 2023

Sunil Gavaskar reacted to the 17-member Indian squad announced for the upcoming Asia Cup 2023.

The Indian selection committee, led by Ajit Agarkar, picked the Indian squad for the upcoming Asia Cup 2023 on Monday. It saw a total of 17 players and the long-awaited return of KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer. Tilak Varma has been given his maiden ODI call-up, and Suryakumar Yadav has also retained his place despite his struggles in 50-over cricket. India have picked five pacers and three spinners.

Team India will face Pakistan in their first game of the Asia Cup 2023 on September 2 in Pallekele. There were a few big names that were dropped, the biggest of the lot were Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravi Ashwin. India will play all of their games in Sri Lanka, where the pitches help spinners a lot. Despite that, India have gone with Kuldeep Yadav as a specialist spinner, along with Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel as spin all-rounders.

Watch: Sunil Gavaskar lost his cool when asked about Ravi Ashwin’s omission from the Asia Cup 2023 squad

As soon as the Asia Cup 2023 squad was announced, fans started talking about it. Many believe that Sanju Samson should have been picked instead of Suryakumar Yadav, while some feel that picking Iyer and Rahul without any match practice was not a wise decision. Notably, Rahul also had a small niggle. Adding to that, some fans also reckon that India should have gone for Ravi Ashwin or Washington Sundar to give an off-spin option to the team.

Though former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar reckons that it is a balanced squad picked by the selectors, However, he lost his cool when a fan asked him about Ashwin’s snub for the squad. In his interaction on Aaj Tak, Gavaskar said, “Yes, there are a few players who will believe that they are lucky. But the team is selected. So don’t talk about Ashwin. Stop creating controversy. This is our team now. If you don’t like it, don’t watch the matches.”

Gavaskar also stated that the selectors have picked a good squad that can win the Asia Cup in 2023 and backed them for picking Rahul and Iyer. He said that no dropped player can say that injustice has been done to them, and this is the best possible team that can be picked. Former Indian captain also spoke on India’s chances of winning the tournament. To that, he said that the bigger picture is to win the ICC Cricket World Cup, and the 15-member squad will be selected from these 17.

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