3 Key Takeaways From India's Asia Cup 2023 Squad
Chahal has been axed by the selectors [Twitter]
On Monday, India announced their squad for the upcoming Asia Cup 2023. The newly appointed chief selector, Ajit Agarkar announced the squad in a press-conference, alongside captain Rohit Sharma.
The squad covers almost all the bases, and it does include a few surprises. Tilak Varma, who shown in the recently concluded West Indies tour, gets a chance in the ODI team. Moreover, the wily spinner Yuzvendra Chahal misses out on yet another multi-format tournament, having previously been excluded in the 2021 T20 World Cup. KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer are finally back from their respective injuries.
Overall, the new selection panel has picked up a winning squad, and here at OneCricket, we analyse the 3 'key' takeaways from the Asia Cup 2023 India squad.
1) Tilak Varma's 'Bold' selection
Ever-since Tilak Varma performed exceedingly well in the T20I series against the West Indies, there was a buzz going around that the talented southpaw might get selected in the Asia Cup squad.
As cool as a cucumber, Tilak had an exceptional IPL 2022 and 2023 season, and it certainly is a bold call from the selectors, especially given the fact that there are no left-handers in the top-6. Whether he gets a chance to make his ODI debut in the upcoming Asia Cup is still a question to be answered, but Tilak's inclusion gives a positive signal regarding the selection.
2) End of the road for Yuzi Chahal?
It has been a tough few years for Yuzvendra Chahal at the international level. He was omitted from the 2021 T20 World Cup squad, and didn't play a single game in the last edition of the T20 World Cup in 2022. Now, with another axe from the selectors, the question arises - is this the end of Chahal at the international level?
His numbers haven't been prolific in both the white-ball formats. Since 2022, Chahal has picked up 26 wickets in 16 ODI matches. However, it's the T20I numbers that's bothering everyone. In the last 30 T20I matches, the leg-spinner has picked up 32 wickets, but the economy rate has risen considerably.
With Kuldeep back in form and back amongst the wickets, and India always persisting with Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel, it seems Chahal has a monumental task ahead of him.
3) Prasidh is back!
Just like Jasprit Bumrah, Prasid Krishna was out for the majority of 2022 with a stress fracture. His ability to hit the deck is second to none, and India will be happy to have Prasidh back in the squad. In 14 ODI matches, the lanky pacer has picked up 25 wickets, at 23.92.
He recently made a comeback in the T20I series against Ireland, and looked back in shape and looked raring to go.
 "Anurag Dasgupta")
