India's much awaited squad for the upcoming Asia Cup has been announced. While all the expected players made it to the team, Sanju Samson being named as a back-up player raised a lot of eyebrows. The reason for the same has been confirmed by chief selector Ajit Agarkar who has stated that KL Rahul has sustained a niggle after recovering from his earlier injury and might not feature in the marquee clash against Pakistan.
"KL Rahul is carrying a niggle but expected to be fully fit by second or third match for Asia Cup. Hence, Sanju Samson is travelling as a back-up player," Agarkar said. This is a huge blow for India as Rahul is a first-choice wicket-keeper and will be definitely missed if he doesn't get fit in time for the Pakistan clash. In that case, Ishan Kishan might get a game having been picked as the second wicket-keeper in the squad.
In another update, middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer has been declared fully fit as he proved his fitness in the practice matches at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. He is most likely to bat at four and finally the much-debated position seems to have gone. Among other injured players, Jasprit Bumrah has returned after a brilliant show in the two matches against Ireland in the ongoing T20I series.
Coming back to KL Rahul, his injury doesn't seem to be serious as of now but if he doesn't get fit in time, we might see Samson being included in the squad as well. But at the moment, the team management looks confident that Rahul will get by at least the Super Fours round in the Asia Cup 2023.
India squad for Asia Cup 2023: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya (VC), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Sanju Samson (Back Up)
