We are less than a couple of weeks away from the Asia Cup 2023, and less than two months away from the World Cup 2023.
While teams like England and Australia have announced their preliminary squad for the World Cup, the BCCI have not even announced their Asia Cup squad. The selection and injury dilemmas continue to trouble the selectors and the team management headed by Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid.
The BCCI will have to at least announce their preliminary World Cup 2023 squad by September 5, changes to which can be made until September 27. India will have played only a couple of matches in the Asia Cup by September 5, when the BCCI will have to announce the WC squad.
Here are 5 important things the Indian selectors need to think over before announcing the World Cup 2023 squad:
The number 4 problem:
With Shreyas Iyer’s injury earlier this year, it opened up the number 4 problem once again for India. They tried Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, and Axar Patel in the Australia and West Indies series, but none really cemented his position.
Iyer is unlikely to be fit for Asia Cup. This means India will have to further pick an untested or unproven batsman at number 4 in Asia Cup.
Iyer might be fit for the ODI series against Australia ahead of the World Cup. The conundrum here is what if Iyer fails to perform against Australia, then he will go into the World Cup without form and confidence? Further, what if the batsman who plays at number 4 in the Asia Cup performs well, then will he be dropped when Iyer is fit?
Who are the backup batsmen?
If you look at the 2011 World Cup squad, India had Suresh Raina as a backup and Raina came in the side after Yusuf Pathan failed to perform in the league stage; Raina made significant contributions in quarter-final and semi-final.
Even if we consider that Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul will be the number 4 batter and 5 keeper-batsman in our World Cup team, now the Indian BCCI selectors have to pick the back-ups, at least one or two if the batters fail during the tournament.
Shubman Gill recently struggled on spin-friendly pitches in West Indies, and there is no guarantee that he will succeed in Sri Lanka in Asia Cup and in India in World Cup where the pitches will get tiring as the tournament goes deeper. Same goes with the likes of KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer who will be returning after a long injury layoff.
Ishan Kishan seems to have cemented himself as the backup to the openers and wicket-keeping backup, but Ishan Kishan cannot bat in the middle-order. For middle-order backups, India have tried Suryakumar and Samson, both of whom didn’t really impress much. Other than these two India don’t really have a backup batsman for a middle-order spot with good amount of experience.
Do India pick Shardul Thakur or Axar Patel?
The West Indies tour aside, where he was not handled well, Axar Patel has proven that he can get into India’s side, even in the presence of Ravindra Jadeja. But it is highly unlikely that Axar will get into India’s XI as long as Jadeja is fit and available.
So, this leaves the selectors with the question that do they pick Axar Patel, who probably won’t play in the XI in the World Cup if Jadeja is there, or do they go with the pace-bowling all-rounder in Shardul Thakur, who was the leading wicket-taker in the West Indies, but has a tendency to be expensive against good batters. Also, Shardul is the best possible seam-bowling all-rounder replacement for Hardik Pandya, though Shardul’s batting is not at the level of Pandya.
What about Yuzvendra Chahal?
Yuzvendra Chahal seems to have fallen out of favor with the Indian team management. He didn’t play a single ODI in the West Indies, and also was taken for cleaners in a couple of T20Is. Kuldeep Yadav, on the other hand, has confirmed his spot in the Asia Cup XI, and also possibly in the World Cup side. Kuldeep has been phenomenal this year in ODIs, and the management seems to prefer his mystery and variety over Chahal.
Chahal, who was key in India’s 2019 World Cup team, might not get a place in the 2023 World Cup XI, but he could still be picked in the squad. It won’t be a big surprise, though, if he isn’t picked in the squad as well.
Will Jasprit Bumrah play all matches in World Cup 2023?
Another issue that the selectors and the management will need to address is whether Jasprit Bumrah will be fit and be allowed to play all 9 league matches. Bumrah is returning to international cricket after 11 months of injury layoff. So playing all 9 league matches might not be possible, and perhaps wouldn’t be a good choice.
India are already unlikely to play all three of Bumrah, Shami, and Siraj in all 9 matches – as Hardik Pandya can support well with his seam-bowling, plus Shardul Thakur could also get the nod. So it would be a fair decision to rest Bumrah against teams like Scotland and Afghanistan, and maybe even Sri Lanka.
Since there is no playoffs system in the World Cup – the top 4 teams play the semi-finals – if India qualify for the semi-finals with say a couple of games left, then resting Bumrah and Shami would be a certain decision.
