The Aisa Cup 2023 is just around the corner and it’s evident that the Indian selectors are facing a dilemma in naming the squad for the tournament. The injuries of KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer have majorly made the job difficult for the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee while experts are suggesting to rope in Tilak Varma to add the desired firepower in the middle-order.
Varma was recently handed a debut in the T20Is against West Indies. Though India lost the series, the left-hander was the biggest positive from the visitor’s camp who ended up being the highest scorer with 173 runs in five matches. Meanwhile, the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and former head coach Ravi Shastri suggested that if the duo of Rahul and Shreyas don’t get fit in time then a young Tilak Varma can be added to the teams for Asia Cup and the subsequent World Cup.
Amid the rising voices in support of Tilak Varma, former selector Saba Karim has drawn attention to an important aspect. He has urged Agarkar & Co to have ‘patience’ and focus on the bigger picture, just to avoid a situation that occurred with the likes of Vijay Shankar and Varun Chakravarthy in the previous World Cups.
Back in 2019, Ambati Rayudu was very much in contention for the 50-over World Cup in England but the MSK Prasad-led selection committee found a ‘3-D’ player in Shankar. The all-rounder did travel to the United Kingdom and even featured in the game against Pakistan but was ruled out mid-way. Varun Chakravarthy faced the same fate after the T20 World Cup 2021 in the UAE, eventually getting dropped after a series of below-par performances.
“Absolutely (on fear of Varun-Chakravarthy-like situation). I agree completely. You have to be extremely patient and have the larger picture in mind when picking the final 15/18 for the Asia Cup. But then again, Asia Cup could provide the perfect platform. The selectors would want to pick their best 15 who could then jolly well find themselves in the World Cup squad,” Karim was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
“So I would reckon, pick the top 15 whom they see will play in the World Cup and then pick the two additional players, that will be the rule for Asia Cup. In case Iyer and Rahul are not fit then they will pick a wicketkeeper and middle-order batter and one more each for the two slots to keep the option in hand,” he added.
Tilak may have found success in the T20 format but his mettle is yet to be tested in the ODIs. At the same time, Suryakumar is yet to crack the code of the 50-over format in the blue jersey and has admitted that he needs to push himself for the better.
Speaking about the inclusion of Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma, Karim said the selectors also consider the domestic numbers of a player before picking him up. He also underlined that making the IPL performance a base of picking up players for ODIs is not the right practice.
“We often forget that players, whether Suryakumar or Tilak, do put in performances in domestic cricket in the one-day format for a long time. And if a player has performed well in the domestic circuit in the format, but doesn’t have the experience on an international level, although has put in good scores in T20I cricket then they do have the attention of the selectors.”
“So, both these factors are taken into consideration. But if they only look at performances in T20 cricket and IPL to pick a player for the ODI team, then that is wrong,” he added.
Comments
0 comment