India announce its 17-member travelling squad for the 2023 Asia Cup on Monday, followed by a press conference from captain Rohit Sharma and chief selector Ajit Agarkar in Delhi.
Tilak Varma has earned a maiden ODI call-up while Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul return as India announced a 17-man squad for the 2023 Asia Cup.
Spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, meanwhile, has been excluded while Kuldeep Yadav has found a place. Chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar said that while this is not officially a preliminary squad, the team for the World Cup will be selected from among these players. It means that this might as well be the de facto preliminary squad for the World Cup.
With the ODI World Cup in sights, India’s performance in the continental tournament – which will be played as 50-over format this year – will be key to their chances at the marquee event later this year at home.
Major doubts are regarding the fitness of KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer, both of whom have been recovering from a thigh and a back injury respectively. The fitness of pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah has come as a delightful surprise in the three-match T20I series against Ireland, and he is likely to be a feature of the Asia Cup squad.
Squad: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, and Sanju Samson
