Former Indian wicketkeeper batsman Saba Karim has picked his India XI for Asia Cup 2023. The tournament begins on August 30 with Pakistan taking on Nepal in the first game in Multan.
Team India will begin their campaign against Pakistan in Pallekele on September 2. The BCCI has named a 17-member Indian squad, with Sanju Samson being named in the reserves as the 18th man.
KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer are back in the Indian squad. While concerns still remain over Rahul, Iyer is deemed fit after his recent 199-run knock that made the selectors include him in the squad. There were some notable exclusions from the squad and some notable returns as well.
Jaspreit Bumrah is also back in the Indian ODI side. He led the Indian team in the T20I series against Ireland which they won. Prasidh Krishna another key Indian bowler is also back in the squad.
Among the notable absentees are Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin. The debate surrounding Chahal’s exclusion is a deeper one than that surrounding Ashwin. The absence of a left-arm Indian seamer is another talking point. Arshdeep Singh recently played in the T20I series against Ireland.
Read More: IND vs PAK: Don’t Think They Are Looking At Shardul Thakur As Backup For Hardik Pandya – Saba Karim
Tilak Varma has received his maiden ODI call-up after his recent good performances in the series against West Indies He scored his maiden T20I fifty in just his second game. The southpaw scored 39 and 49 in the first and the third game. Karim did not pick both him and SKY in his Indian playing XI.
Saba Karim Picks His India Playing XI For Asia Cup 2023
Talking to Sportskeeds recently, Saba Karim chose his India playing XI for the tournament. He decided to go with Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill as the openers. He slotted Virat Kohli at three, Shreyas Iyer at four, and KL Rahul at five.
Hardik Pandya and Shardul Thakur were his two seam-bowling all-rounders and Ravindra Jadeja was the spin-bowling all-rounder. Shami, Bumrah, and Kuldeep Yadav were Karim’s three specialist bowlers.
Saba Karim’s India playing 11 for Asia Cup 2023: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul/Ishan Kishan (WK), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah.
