27

Aug

ASIA CUP SELECTIONS IGNITE DEBATE

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Indian team for the T20 Asia Cup has been announced and it is generating a fierce debate – both among experts and fans alike.

Let us do a dispassionate analysis.

What do we expect from selectors:

a.           That they would consider performance of players and reward merit

b.            That they would be consistent in their selections

c.            That they would consider the conditions in which the team would play

d.           That they would take a long term view

e.            That they would have an eye for exceptional talent

f.             That they would take hard decisions when needed

Let us assume that the selectors pick the best team when India goes into an international event rather than bilateral series especially when playing lesser nations like Bangladesh or Zimbabwe.

The last international T20 event India played was the T20 World Cup 2024.

The team was:

Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj. Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan

Let us judge the team announced for Asia Cup with reference to the WC 2024 squad.

 

 

The announcement of India’s T20 Asia Cup squad has sparked debate over selection consistency and merit. With retired players Rohit and Virat leaving gaps at the top, Jaiswal and Shubman Gill deserved automatic inclusion, yet Jaiswal was omitted. Performances in international T20s and the IPL should guide choices, but players like Sanju Samson were retained despite poor form, while high-performing bowlers such as Siraj and Prasidh Krishna were overlooked.
Front Foot Forward
By Anil Jauhri
Wicketkeeping and allrounder slots remain contentious, with Rishabh Pant absent and choices like Shivam Dube and Harshit Rana questioned. The batting lineup also raises concerns over deserving talents like Tilak Varma, Shreyas Iyer, and Vaibhav Suryavanshi. Vice-captaincy and leadership selections show inconsistency. The author argues that selectors must prioritize performance, consistency, and courage in decision-making, ensuring that the 15-member squad balances openers, batters, allrounders, pacers, and spinners while rewarding merit over favoritism.

 

The two openers in WC were Rohit and Virat – both have retired and two places open up at the top. Jaiswal was the third opener who never played and should automatically be the next opener. He is not selected at all. That is not being consistent.

Shubman Gill was in the reserves in WC 2024 and he rightly gets selected riding on his performance in IPL too. Consistency in selection demands that he joins Jaiswal at the top.

Who are the openers vying for a spot?

In the intervening period we tried some openers – Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson being the main ones.

Abhishek clicked and was the highest run getter in the last T20 international series against England in early 2025 – so he should make it.

But what about Samson? After initial success, he performed poorly in the last series – and against the most powerful opponents England - ending up with a miserly 51 runs in 5 matches. Does he deserve a place? Looks like no.

But if we had followed logic and been consistent, we would have 3 openers in place as above.

Let us look at the yardstick of performance – what should count?

One, performance in international T20 series and two, performance in IPL which is the strongest platform for the players to demonstrate their credentials.

Among the WC squad, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh and  Jasprit Bumrah should get in based on WC 2024 performances itself which fills up 10 slots.

Why is Pant not there? Is he unfit due to injury sustained in England? Or he has been dropped? We have no official word on his exclusion.

Samson was second wicket keeper in WC 2024. Has he done enough to retain his place? This can be debated since we expect keeper to deliver as batter too and his last international outing was a disaster.

There are several candidates for this slot – Rahul, Jurel, Jitesh Sharma, Ishan Kishan.

If we look at performances as batters, its hard to ignore Rahul – he is 4th highest rungetter after Rohit, Virat and Gill in international T20s for India in last 5 years; he is the 5th highest  rungetter in IPL in last 5 years and currently among active Indian players, in fact, the highest and it may be a surprise, but he is the fastest to get to 5000 IPL runs ahead of the likes of Warner, Rohit and Virat. He actually deserves a permanent place even as a batter and maybe first choice keeper.

So the choice ought to be Pant and Rahul.

Coming to all rounders, Pandya is an automatic choice. But is Shivam Dubey? We saw in Champions Trophy earlier this year that UAE conditions favour spin. So should we go with two pace all rounders or spin? Axar is already there as spin one. Should Sundar have been in too?

Among pacers, Bumrah and Arshdeep being already in, on what basis do we leave out Siraj? And if IPL is a yardstick, should not Prasidh Krishna be in as the highest wicket taker in IPL 2025. Instead Harshit Rana comes into the team – he was added to the original squad in Australia, added again in England before being flown back and now selected ahead of more deserving bowlers.

Among spinners, Axar Patel fills allrounder slot and Yadav is obvious choice. But how does Chahal get dropped after being in WC squad and not being played? Third spinner based on performance would be Varun.

 

Here is where competition is. The batting line up.

We tried Tilak Varma at no. 3 and he has clicked – so should make it.

This leaves one slot – obvious choice would be Shreyas Iyer without doubt.

Ahead of strong IPL performers like Ruturaj Gaikwad or Sai Sudharsan

Is there an exceptional talent which appeared in last couple of years. Let us say Jaiswal and Vaibhav Suryavanshi. We did bet on Jaiswal and he has delivered. One could go along with the selectors in making Vaibhav a bit more and show consistent performances.

And finally a word on vice captaincy. Hardik was in place in WC 2024 with Rohit as captain. The selectors overlooked him for captaincy and plumped for Surya. They also elevated Axar to vice captaincy. And now neither is in the place in favour of Gill. Which is another sign of inconsistency.

What about taking hard decisions – it is here we lack courage. We persisted with Virat too long – same with Rohit in Tests. Look at Australia – they play Cummins, Starc and Hazelwood and if any of them is unfit, Scott Boland. Despite exceptional bowling, Boland goes out the moment the regular player returns.

Indian selectors need to show similar strength.

India has talent galore and there are more deserving contenders than places in the team. Some good players will get left out despite performances. Like Sai or Ishan Kishan or Gaikwad.

The squad of 15 should have 3 openers, 2 wicket keepers, 3 pace bowlers, 3 spinners, 2 allrounders and two more specialist batters.

So the team should have been: Surya (C), Hardik (VC), Jaiswal, Abhishek, Gill, Tilak, Shreyas, Pant, Rahul, Axar, Bumrah, Arshdeep, Siraj, Yadav, Varun, Chahal. ( A cricket buff from his student days, Anil Jauhri is   ex-CEO,National Accreditation  Board for Certification Bodies and an international authority on standardisation  )

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