Asia Cup 2023: Tilak Varma Likely To Get Maiden ODI Call-up As Shreyas Iyer Looks Doubtful For Tournament - Reports

Team India are unlikely to avail the services of their star middle-order batsman Shreyas Iyer during the upcoming Asia Cup 2023. The continental championship is scheduled to begin on August 30 and the right-handed batsman is in a race against time to be fit for the tournament.

Shreyas Iyer has been sidelined since suffering a back injury during the Ahmedabad Test against Australia in March this year. In April, he had to undergo surgery on his back and has not played a competitive game since then. He has already missed this year’s IPL, World Test Championship final, the tour of West Indies and is looking set to miss the Asia Cup too.

The batsman recently played in a warm-up game at the National Cricket Academy but is yet to get clearance from the officials. According to The Times of India, the BCCI has decided to delay the squad announcement for the Asia Cup to give more time to Shreyas Iyer to prove his fitness. The squad is likely to be announced on August 20.

“Rahul is by and large fit and is ‘keeping wickets too, while Shreyas Iyer (operated for a back injury) is still not 100%. Both have taken part in match simulations at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore and will play a practice match soon. The fitness of the players who are back from the West Indies tour will also be assessed by the team and NCA’s physios. Hence the delay in naming the team,” a source told TOI.

Tilak Varma could replace Shreyas Iyer:

In case, Shreyas Iyer fails to recover in time for the Asia Cup, the selectors are likely to give uncapped Tilak Varma his maiden ODI call-up. The highly-rated batsman recently made his T20I debut against West Indies and hit the ground running in international cricket.

There have been calls from several quarters to pick Tilak Varma in the squad for the Asia Cup as well as the World Cup. And if Shreyas Iyer does not recover in time, it will only it easier for the selectors to include Varma in the ODI team. Missing Shreyas Iyer, however, will be a huge blow for Team India who have struggled to develop a strong middle-order for quite some time now.