Team India's injury concerns just don't seem to cease with three of their first-choice players still recovering. While pacer Jasprit Bumrah is set for a return in the T20I series against Ireland, the two key members of the Indian middle-order Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul are set to spend more time on the sidelines as the duo reportedly could be out of the Asia Cup too, in a big blow to Rohit Sharma and Co. ahead of the continental tournament.
As per a report in Cricbuzz, both Rahul and Iyer are yet to recover fully and even though both have been sharing their videos and images of their progress on social media, according to BCCI insiders, rushing them into international action straight away with the Asia Cup might not be a right decision and could be really premature.
Iyer, who hasn't played competitive cricket since the Ahmedabad Test in March against Australia, underwent surgery for a troubling back while Rahul also went under the knife on his though after sustaining a hamstring injury during IPL 2023. Both Iyer and Rahul are key to Indian middle-order in the ODI format given none other player hasn't been able to give management an option with the desired result. While Ishan Kishan did well, but he did so at the top of the order where he might not get to play with skipper Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill set to open.
On the other hand, Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna will return in the Ireland series, their selection in the Asia Cup might depend on how they go about in those three T20Is, given they have been away from the game for a while. Bumrah will be playing for the first time since September last year while Krishna will be playing for the first time in a year after last featuring against Zimbabwe in an ODI in August 2022.
The report stated that the squad for the Asia Cup is set to be announced later this week and it might be very similar to the players who were picked for the West Indies series.
