With the inclusion of Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul, the Indian squad for the Asia Cup 2023 is looking quite good. It will be the first time in the last year or so that India will enter a tournament with almost their full-strength team.
The 17-member squad announced some big names coming back. Meanwhile, Tilak Varma got his maiden ODI call-up, while Suryakumar Yadav retained his place. Team India will play their first game in the Asia Cup on September 2 against Pakistan. However, there are a few areas where India needs to look.
Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir indicated an area that India needs to work on. He suggested that India needs to create a backup for Hardik Pandya and needs seam-bowling all-rounders. Talking about the all-rounders, Hardik is the only one that can offer seam bowling, while Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel are the same kind of spin-all-rounders.
Shardul Thakur can bat a bit, but according to Gambhir, he can’t be Hardik’s backup. In a discussion on Star Sports, Gambhir said that India should have selected Shivam Dube because he is in good form and he can be Hardik’s backup.
He added, “One name they (the selectors) should have definitely considered is Shivam Dube because of the kind of form he is in. You need a backup for Hardik Pandya. Shardul Thakur cannot be Hardik’s backup.”
Dube is with the Indian T20I squad for the ongoing three-match T20I series and has done a decent job so far. His 16-ball 22 in the second game helped India post a challenging total, which resulted in a 33-run win. He also bowled a couple of decent overs with the ball.
However, former Indian selector Sunil Joshi has a different opinion. He feels that Dube has to work on his bowling and fielding a lot to be considered a proper all-rounder in ODIs. Furthermore, Gambhir also analyzed the Indian Asia Cup squad and said that it is pretty good, but the selectors could have gone with Ravi Bishnoi or Yuzi Chahal in the spin department.
