The BCCI announced the Asian Games 2023 squad on Friday. The Asian Games are scheduled in Hangzhou, China, from September 23 to October 8 this year.
The BCCI will send a full-strength women’s team, but a second-string men’s side will be sent because the Asian Games clash with the World Cup 2023, which will start on October 5.
Team India (Senior Men) squad for 19th Asian Games: Ruturaj Gaikwad (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul Tripathi, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Shivam Mavi, Shivam Dube, Prabhsimran Singh (wk)
Standby list of players: Yash Thakur, Sai Kishore, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Sai Sudarsan
The men’s cricket competition will take place from 28th September to 8th October in a T20 format.
Here are the 3 biggest takeaways from India’s squad for Asian Games 2023:
Ruturaj Gaikwad is being seen as a future India captain
Talented opening batsman Ruturaj Gaikwad recently got his maiden India call-up to the Test squad for West Indies tour, though Jaiswal started ahead of him in Dominica.
Earlier it was reported that Shikhar Dhawan will lead India in Asian Games in the absence of the likes of Rohit and Hardik. But now, Dhawan, who is dropped from the T20 side and is aged 37, does not get a recall. Instead, by making Gaikwad the captain, the BCCI selectors have indicated that they feel Gaikwad could be the future India captain as well. Gaikwad has led Maharashtra in domestic cricket.
No Arshdeep Singh in ODI World Cup setup; Umran Malik in World Cup contention
Another talking point from this squad for Asian Games is that those fringe players who are not selected in this squad are then certainly in contention for the World Cup 2023 squad.
Arshdeep Singh, who has been terrific in T20 cricket, gets picked in the Asian Games squad but this means that he isn’t part of the plans for the ODI World Cup, though India lack a quality left-arm seamer. Arshdeep excels with both new ball and old ball – he can swing the new ball and nail the yorkers in the death – yet he’s not been considered in the ODI format.
On the other hand, Umran Malik, who, despite having a forgettable IPL 2023 season, and who has not done much in India colors so far, is not in the Asian Games squad, meaning that he is in contention for the ODI World Cup spot. It is his high pace that has seduced the selectors and management for keeping him in the ODI squad for upcoming West Indies series.
Also, interestingly, Mukesh Kumar, who is in the ODI squad to face West Indies, is here in the Asian Games squad. This is a very much puzzling for the fans that if the selectors don’t see Mukesh in contention for the World Cup squad, then why is he in the ODI squad to face West Indies?
Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson likely to be picked in ODI World Cup squad
This Asian Games squad further indicated that both Suryakumar Yadav and Sanju Samson are close to getting picked in the ODI World Cup squad. They will, though, just need to put up some sort of good performances – even if not be consistent – in the upcoming ODI matches in West Indies, then the Asia Cup.
In Shreyas Iyer’s absence, SKY will bat at 4 in West Indies and Samson is likely to the wicket-keeper in the middle-order over Ishan Kishan in the absence of Pant. Both SKY and Samson, proven T20 performers, have a golden opportunity against West Indies to strengthen their credentials for World Cup squad as the selectors believe in them.
