The Follow-On Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cWe\u2019d love these heroes of the game to play as long as possible, but it\u2019s not the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat it does do is open up a lot of different doors for these young players coming through. This is their time to shine now.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a new-look India, with a few more people on the bus sitting in a few different spots.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe squad hasn\u2019t changed a lot, but there will be a lot of younger guys in different positions that will have an opportunity to stand up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Photo by Philip Brown\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
India has announced a 15-player squad for the eight-team tournament, headlined by superstar quick Jasprit Bumrah. However, wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant is missing as he continues to recover from a fractured ankle sustained during the fourth Test against England in Manchester.<\/p>\n
Test captain Shubman Gill, who had not been picked for the national T20 side since July last year, has earned a recall off the back of his stellar Indian Premier League campaign with the Gujarat Titans, averaging 50.00 with a strike rate of 155.87.<\/p>\n
Abhishek Sharma is expected to open alongside Gill in the Asia Cup, with the Sunrisers Hyderabad star proving a more than worthy replacement for Rohit. Since making his T20I debut in July last year, the 25-year-old has averaged 33.43 with a blistering strike rate of 193.84, hitting centuries against England and Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n
However, Gill\u2019s return could push Sanju Samson down the order \u2013 or out of the starting XI altogether.<\/p>\n
Samson has been India\u2019s second-leading run-scorer in T20Is since July last year with 487 runs at 34.78, including three hundreds as an opener, forming a damaging partnership alongside Sharma.<\/p>\n
Chief selector Ajit Agarkar admitted picking India\u2019s opening partnership for the Asia Cup had created a \u201cheadache\u201d, but declared the decision would be put down to captain Yadav and head coach Gautam Gambhir.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbhishek\u2019s performances make it hard to leave him out, plus his bowling is handy,\u201d Agarkar said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s their headache to pick the batting line-up. Our job was to pick the 15. We\u2019ve got some real depth as far as T20 cricket is concerned, and we are very happy about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar argued that Samson shouldn\u2019t be left out of the starting XI, suggesting he could be reinvented as a finisher down the order. <\/p>\n
\u201cSomebody like a Sanju, who can maybe even bat at three and if needed, could come down at six as a finisher,\u201d Gavaskar told the Sony Sports Network.<\/p>\n
\u201cJitesh has also done well in the recently concluded IPL. My feeling is that maybe Samson will probably get the nod ahead of Jitesh for at least the first couple of games. And then depending on what his form is for the rest of the tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you take somebody like a Samson in the fifteen, then you can\u2019t leave him out in the reserve.\u201d<\/p>\n
Samson is also a capable wicketkeeper, but in Pant\u2019s absence, that role is expected to be occupied by Jitesh Sharma. The 31-year-old has not played a T20I since January last year, but he put himself back in the national conversation by averaging 37.28 with a strike rate of 176.35 during this season\u2019s IPL.<\/p>\n
Sanju Samson of India. Photo by Lee Warren\/Gallo Images\/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Batting at No. 3 for India, a position Kohli occupied for more than a decade, will most likely be Tilak Varma, who has also enjoyed an impressive start to his T20I career with 413 runs at 82.60 and a strike rate of 170.66. The 22-year-old made global headlines in November last year after clobbering consecutive hundreds against South Africa.<\/p>\n
However, the selection of Sharma and Varma comes at the expense of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shreyas Iyer, with the duo\u2019s surprise omission raising eyebrows.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a little disappointed not to see these two names,\u201d former India spinner Maninder Singh told PTI.<\/p>\n
\u201cJaiswal, I think, is ready for any format and he should be there in any team.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs far as Iyer is concerned, I really don\u2019t know why he keeps getting left out of the Indian side because he\u2019s such a fantastic player and such a positive player and contributes to the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, India already boasts a capable replacement for Jadeja in fellow all-rounder Axar Patel, who has 71 T20Is under his belt. The left-armed tweaker will balance India\u2019s starting XI as a fifth bowling option and lower-order slugger.<\/p>\n
India are the Asia Cup reigning champions having won the previous edition in 2023, albeit a 50-over tournament. Lifting the trophy again would be a timely shot in the arm ahead of next year\u2019s T20 World Cup at home.<\/p>\n
Additional reporting from Courtney Walsh<\/p>\n
India\u2019s Asia Cup Squad<\/p>\n
Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (wk), Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh<\/p>\n
India\u2019s Asia Cup Fixtures<\/p>\n
All times local<\/p>\n
September 10 vs UAE, 7.3pm in Dubai <\/p>\n
September 14 vs Pakistan, 7.30pm in Dubai<\/p>\n
September 19 vs Oman, 7:30pm in Abu Dhabi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the aftermath of last year\u2019s T20 World Cup triumph, three of the biggest names in Indian cricket…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[88402,944,6074,91945,9199,1724,64,63,91939,91930,91943,89813,91942,17057,3567,740,91937,49368,5951,45893,1208,2057,91941,10537,2105,42163,31550,8469,13849,91947,91928,91934,91948,91932,91940,91927,91935,3583,15299,1948,91946,91936,72147,45258,43196,78645,38704,91931,88445,31779,10536,91938,1183,18780,12540,85,6750,11545,39418,91929,58866,91933,3586,2131,32915,12000,91944,19121,41283],"class_list":["post-132775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-abhishek-sharma","tag-abu-dhabi","tag-africa","tag-african-nation","tag-alarm-bells","tag-asia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-bowler","tag-batting-line-up","tag-blistering-strike-rate","tag-brett-lee","tag-chief-selector","tag-city-of-manchester","tag-courtney-walsh","tag-cricket","tag-cricket-powerhouse","tag-cricket-stars","tag-dubai","tag-eastern-africa-sub-saharan-africa","tag-england","tag-europe","tag-fantastic-player","tag-gautam-gambhir","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-hardik-pandya","tag-home-soil","tag-indian-cricket","tag-indian-premier-league","tag-indian-side","tag-indian-squad","tag-jacques-kallis","tag-lee-warren","tag-lower-order-slugger","tag-maninder-singh","tag-marquee-tournament","tag-multi-format-all-rounder","tag-northern-europe","tag-pakistan","tag-pat-cummins","tag-positive-player","tag-real-depth","tag-rinku-singh","tag-rohit-sharma","tag-sanju-samson","tag-selection-dilemma","tag-series-win","tag-seven-run-win","tag-shivam-dube","tag-shreyas-iyer","tag-shubman-gill","tag-sony-sports-network","tag-south-africa","tag-southern-africa","tag-southern-asia","tag-sports","tag-start-time","tag-strike-rate","tag-sunil-gavaskar","tag-sunrisers-hyderabad","tag-suryakumar-yadav","tag-triple-retirement","tag-united-kingdom","tag-virat-kohli","tag-wake-up-call","tag-western-asia","tag-worthy-replacement","tag-young-players","tag-zimbabwe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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