Reports: India’s Asia Cup and T20 World Cup 2022 squad likely to be same

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the 15-member squad for the three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe on Saturday. Once again, the Indian management decided to give rest to senior players Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and others. Shikhar Dhawan, who led India to a 3-0 win over West Indies, is leading the team again. Deepak Chahar and Washington Sundar return to international cricket after some time. Now the next and difficult task for the selection committee is selecting the squad for the Asia Cup 2022.

The deadline to announce the squad for Asia Cup is till August 8 and it is believed that the committee will wait till the last match of the West Indies tour concludes, which is on August 7. The star players Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and KL Rahul are all missing both the West Indies and Zimbabwe tours and are likely to play their next match in Asia Cup directly, which starts on August 27 and the final is scheduled on September 11.

No surprises in the Indian squad for Asia Cup and T20 World Cup 2022?

With the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup scheduled to start on the 22nd of October in Australia, the Indian management is looking to give a handful of matches to the same squad. India have tested plenty of combinations in every department in the T20I format since the conclusion of the Indian Premier League 2022. The management has also tested new captaincy options in the form of Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya in the last two months as well, but now are likely to choose a strong and experienced squad for Asia Cup.

KL Rahul was part of India’s T20I series squad against West Indies initially but the player tested positive for Covid-19 and has been ruled out of the entire series. He has not played international cricket since the conclusion of IPL 2022. Both Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah are also likely to be part of the Asia Cup to regain match fitness for the T20 World Cup.