What are the key takeaways from India’s Asia Cup squad selection?

KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer set to return in the 17-man team selected for the Asia Cup.

On Monday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the 17-member Indian squad for the upcoming Asia Cup which will be held in the ODI format. Batters KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer are set to make their return for Team India while star pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah has also been included following his return to international cricket during the recent T20I series in Ireland, where he is captaining the Men in Blue.

The squad selected for the Asia Cup also holds a lot of promise given that it shows us a glimpse of what the team management and selectors are thinking ahead of the ODI World Cup later this year. The team for the Asia Cup was announced by the new chief of selectors Ajit Agarkar, in the company of captain Rohit Sharma, at a press conference in New Delhi.

Tilak Varma and Prasidh Krishna are also surprise inclusions in the squad while Sanju Samson has been kept as a backup player.

What can we expect from India’s squad heading into the Asia Cup?

Greater balance to the middle order

The returns of KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer come as a blessing to the Indian team. The middle order had been a mess in their absence. Having given chances to several players to essay that role in recent months as Iyer and Rahul remain sidelined with injury, the team didn’t find a clear winner.

With the return of the injured duo, India will be able to bank on them to deliver in the boring middle orders while the top three of Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, and Virat Kohli remains unchanged.

Iyer and Rahul are expected to come to bat at the fourth and fifth slots respectively and they are expected to be followed by Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja batting in sixth and seventh.

As such, India’s middle order could also be more fluid in terms of promotion and demotion depending on the conditions and bowlers in operation.

Flexibility was also one of the points stressed upon by captain Rohit Sharma during the press conference. “Flexibility is required and it doesn’t mean we send an opener at number 7 or send Hardik Pandya as an opener. In the last four-five years, Kohli has batted at number 3. The new guys at number 4, number 5 players need to be flexible. Even in my career…we all have done that. That’s the flexibility I am talking about,” he said.

With that being said, though, there’s still a small concern regarding Rahul. The 31-year-old has apparently suffered a minor setback in his recovery and he will only be available from the second group stage match onwards.

Plenty of frontline pace

India have included five pace bowlers - Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Prasidh Krishna, and Jasprit Bumrah - and with the addition of Hardik Pandya, it does look like there’s more than enough seam-bowling options to go around. However, Bumrah and Krishna have recently recovered from injuries and workload management is expected to be crucial going into the World Cup.

Moreover, it is also believed that among the five, only four will be able to make their way to the World Cup squad list. Who they should chop out will be a major headache for the selectors and the team combinations during the Asia Cup might suggest some ideas.

Spin combination?

Kuldeep Yadav is expected to find his place as the primary spinner in India’s ODI XI. The second option could come down to between Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel who are both included as spin-bowling all-rounders.

This leads to a problem of a lack in batting depth and the team management might have to play Shardul Thakur as an additional pace-bowling all-rounder in order to avoid a long tail. Selectors have also been looking at Ravichandran Ashwin and Washington Sundar as potential options for the World Cup in order to combat this issue but as things stand, neither of those two are making the trip to Sri Lanka.

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