Virat Kohli will play in the Asia Cup; Returns to T20I squad
Without injuries and players returning from rehabilitation, India’s 15-man selection for the Asia Cup might have been the same as the side that will compete in the October-November T20 World Cup in Australia. However, the selectors chose a weakened three-man pace attack for the UAE event on Monday.
The return of Virat Kohli and KL Rahul is the major news for Indian cricket fans.
Virat has been named to India’s T20I team for the Asia Cup, returning after a more than month sabbatical after the completion of the England tour on July 17. Bumrah did not return to the West Indies following the England trip, and he was also rested for the forthcoming ODI series in Zimbabwe. He reportedly got back spasms last week and visited the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, where he was diagnosed with a back issue. Harshal Patel was also unable to be selected due to a rib ailment. Deepak Hooda has been retained as a middle-order option at the expense of Shreyas Iyer and Sanju Samson, while Ravi Bishnoi has been chosen as the squad’s second wrist-spinning option.
Since the T20 World Cup finished in November last year, Kohli has played only four T20 internationals and missed 19, hitting 81 runs at an average of 20 and a strike rate of 128.57. His performance for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL 2022 was concerning, and he only scored 1 and 11 in his most recent T20Is in England.
Ishan Kishan, who played in the fifth T20I against the West Indies, is among those who did not make the 15-man squad. That means India will most likely have only Rishabh Pant as a left-hander in their top-five, with Ravindra Jadeja coming in later.
In the recent nine months, India has attempted to adopt a more aggressive, contemporary T20 batting technique. Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, and Deepak Hooda have all been tested as openers. Opposing teams will be watching to see if India maintains their batting order flexibility in the Asia Cup.
🚨#TeamIndia squad for Asia Cup 2022 – Rohit Sharma (Capt ), KL Rahul (VC), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, R Pant (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, R Jadeja, R Ashwin, Y Chahal, R Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan.
— BCCI (@BCCI) August 8, 2022
Surprisingly, the selectors have nominated up to four spinners. The finger spinners are Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin, while the wrist spinners are Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravi Bishnoi. It’s possible that Ashwin or the youthful Bishnoi would be left out of the World Cup team. It needs to be observed whether the UAE would provide enough support for spinners (India will play all of their matches in Dubai).
Notes –
Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel were not available for selection owing to injuries. They are currently undergoing rehab at the NCA in Bengaluru.Three players – Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel and Deepak Chahar have been named as standbys.
— BCCI (@BCCI) August 8, 2022
Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan, Deepak Hooda
Stand by players:
- Axar Patel
- Deepak Chahar
- Shreyas Iyer
Before the T20 World Cup begins in Australia in October, the Asia Cup is India’s third-to-last T20I assignment. The other two are home series against Australia and South Africa.
India is the defending winner of the Asia Cup, which was last played in the ODI format in 2018. They won the championship after defeating Bangladesh in a last-ball cliffhanger in Dubai.
India will begin their Asia Cup defence against Pakistan on August 28 in Dubai.
