'He should have been picked': Gautam Gambhir's blunt verdict on India's Asia Cup squad

An 18-member Indian contingent will travel to Sri Lanka for the Asia Cup as chief selector Ajit Agrakar named the squad for the upcoming continental tournament. KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer have been inducted back into the squad while Jasprit Bumrah marks his return to the ODI format. Rohit Sharma will lead the team while Hardik Pandya continues to be his deputy.

3 things you need to know

• India will open their Asia Cup campaign with a match against Pakistan at Pallekele
• India will play all their Asia Cup fixtures in Sri Lanka
• The Men in Blue are currently playing a three-match T20I series against Ireland

Gautam Gambhir calls for CSK star's inclusion

Incidentally, India's last Asia Cup title came under the tutelage of Rohit Sharma's captaincy back in 2018 when the Men in Blue managed to scrap a three wickets win over neighbor Bangladesh. Sri Lanka are the current holder of the Asia Cup title but the tournament was organised in a T20 format in the last edition.

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A number of surprising omissions did raise a few eyebrows as confirmed by Ajit Agarkar the ICC World Cup squad will be around these players only. Yuzvendra Chahal and Shikhar Dhawan missed out on the flight to Sri Lanka which seemed a bit unorthodox step but according to former Indian skipper Gautam Gambhir, the selectors didn't name a perfect backup for Hardik Pandya which could be a matter of concern.

He rooted for Shivam Dube's inclusion in the squad as he believes Shardul Thakur wouldn't be able to perform that task. In an interaction with Star Sports, he opened up. 

“It’s a decent squad, according to me a nice squad is picked, but somewhere a wrist spinner is needed. It’s a seam-heavy squad and I believe either Ravi Bishnoi or Yuzvendra Chahal should have been picked because of conditions, when you are playing in India it’s important to keep two wrist spinners in the squad. 

“Somewhere it’s a one-dimensional attack, two left-arm spinners, one wrist spinner and other pacers, it’s a seam-heavy attack (four-seamers). I think it’s a place where they could do better if they have selected one out of either leg-spinner.” 

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He further added, “I believe you could give a break to Mohammad Shami and the form in which Prasidh Krishna is, you could pick a wrist spinner and with that one name, you could have considered considering the form in which he is, Shivam Dube because somewhere you need to have a back up for Hardik Pandya. Shardul Thakur cannot be Hardik’s backup.”

India's squad for the Asia Cup

Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (VC), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna Traveling stand-by player: Sanju Samson