asia cup 2022
Cricket

“Suryakumar Yadav is such a multifaceted player,” says Saba Karim

Saba Karim, a former India wicketkeeper-batter and ex-member of the senior selection committee, expressed strong confidence in right-handed batters Virat Kohli and KL Rahul returning to form at the appropriate moment for the team after “2-3 solid practise sessions.” Kohli and Rahul are both returning to India’s T20I squad for the Asia Cup. The problem for the two, though, is to adjust to India’s new, aggressive attitude with the bat, which has been in place since last year’s T20 World Cup in the UAE. Both Rahul and Kohli have been noted in the past for being slow starts in the shortest version of the game, but the latter did show indications of changing to that strategy during the two T20Is he played against England in July, going for his strokes right away before falling cheaply.

The 31-year-old scored a brilliant century from the middle order in England and opened in four games in the West Indies, where he looked in great form. Suryakumar has rendered himself undroppable, implying that one of Rishabh Pant or Dinesh Karthik would be named as wicketkeeper-batter. Given his all-round ability, Hardik Pandya will almost certainly make the playing XI, while Virat Kohli, despite not being in the best of form, will almost certainly bat at number three throughout the championship.

Suryakumar has scored 672 runs at an average of 37.33 in 23 T20Is, including five fifties and a recent century of 117 against England at The Oval.

“Suryakumar Yadav is such a multi-dimensional player, I can keep him as a floater. I can push him up the order, if my two openers bat say till the 7th-8th over, I can push in SKY then. Or in case it is required, I can also push him down the order because he’s such a player who can give me the value at whatever number he bats and I’m looking at my 4-5-6 as floaters. I will in fact keep Rishabh Pant very handy. Because if I feel that I need to push in a left-hander at the top of the order. I can do that as well. But as of now my fixed 3 positions at the top would be Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli,” said Saba Karim to reporters.

Karim then discussed the Indian top order, expressing his belief that experienced players can perform well against powerhouse teams such as Pakistan.

“I will in fact keep Rishabh Pant very handy. Because if I feel that I need to push in a left-hander at the top of the order, I can do that as well. But as of now my fixed 3 positions at the top would be Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Virat Kohli,” he added.

“KL Rahul, would love to see him get more runs but I still feel that both Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, if they undergo 2-3 good practice sessions, I’m sure they’ll get back to form at the right time for India,” said Karim. “I’m also preferring a combination which allows me to play five wicket-taking bowlers. On top of that, I have Hardik Pandya as my sixth bowling option. So, if I go in with this kind of combination then I don’t have space for two wicketkeepers.”

The tournament’s 15th edition will be played in the UAE amongst six teams. India, the defending champion, is also the most successful team, having won the trophy seven times. While the previous competition was played in ODI format, this year’s event will be played in T20 format. The six teams are grouped into two groups: Group A, which includes India, Pakistan, and a qualifying team, and Group B, which includes Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. In the group stage, each team plays the other once, with the top two teams from each group progressing to the Super 4 round. The top two teams from Super 4 will advance to the final.

On Sunday, India and Pakistan will commence their Asia Cup Group A campaign in a highly anticipated match at the Dubai International Stadium, which will signal the revival of cricket’s greatest rivalry. This will also be the first encounter between these two sides since they met in the Men’s T20 World Cup last year in the UAE, when Pakistan defeated India by a thumping 10-wicket victory, their first in Men’s World Cups.

Indian Team for Asia Cup: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan

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