We hardly saw any cricket in mid-2020 due to the pandemic. Many cricket series and tournaments got postponed and Asia Cup was one of them. This is the reason team India’s 2021 calendar is filled with many matches. Now, 6 teams will play Asia Cup in June 2021. However, India has to play the final of the ICC World Test Championship in June. For this reason, BCCI may send a second Team India squad for Asia Cup 2021.
Likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and others will miss the tournament as they will be in England for the final against New Zealand. Sourav Ganguly recently reveals the idea of sending a second-string squad to Sri Lanka. Team India coach Ravi Shastri also gave a hint of fielding two different teams in the future. Shastri tells that many players played for India in the past 6 months and this is a good sign for them.
Asia Cup 2021 India Squad Chances
But the question is what will be Asia Cup 2021 India squad as many star players won’t be available. According to reports, KL Rahul may captain men in blue the T20 tournament. As Rishabh Pant will be keeping the wickets in England, Sanju Samson may replace him. Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan will find themselves in the squad.
Shikhar Dhawan will be the most experienced player in the India team’s squad for Asia Cup 2021. Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami will play the WTC final so Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, T Natarajan, and Kartik Tyagi will have an opportunity to shine. Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey will give strength to the middle order.
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Hardik Pandya didn’t get an opportunity in the home test series against England. However, he will probably get a chance in English conditions so he might miss the multiple-team tournament for the final at Southampton. Shivam Dubey may fill fast bowling all-rounder’s void.
Probable India Squad: KL Rahul (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dubey, Krunal Pandya, Rahul Tewatia, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, T Natarajan.