Asia Cup 2022 will start on August 27th. The event will happen in the UAE. India, who won the last edition, will be the favorites again. Recently, BCCI announced the squad for the event. The talking point was the return of the senior batters and the absence of Harshal Patel and Jasprit Bumrah. Although most of the selections were on expected lines, there were also a few surprises. On that note, here, we take a look at three surprise selections in the Indian squad for Asia Cup 2022.
🚨#TeamIndia squad for Asia Cup 2022 – Rohit Sharma (Capt ), KL Rahul (VC), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, R Pant (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, R Jadeja, R Ashwin, Y Chahal, R Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan.
— BCCI (@BCCI) August 8, 2022
1) Avesh Khan
Avesh Khan is one pacer who has struggled in recent weeks. He was decent in the penultimate game of the T20I series against West Indies but otherwise, the Madhya Pradesh pacer has been disappointing.
His career economy so far is close to 8.7. This is a little on the higher side and in a few games, Avesh let the opposition off the hook with his loose bowling. Considering these factors, he was a surprise selection for the event considering there were other options such as Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj.
2) R Ashwin
R Ashwin is one of the surprise selections in the Indian squad for Asia Cup 2022. It needs to be noted that it was at the end of July this year that Ashwin played his first T20I in 2022. From November 2021, he had been kept out of the T20I squad. His return to the West Indies setup did meet some criticism but with so many left-handers in the opposition, there was a justification.
However, he has been selected for the Asia Cup, which means that he is in the plans for the 2022 T20 World Cup. With Deepak Hooda in the squad, who is capable of giving a few overs of right-arm off-spin, it was surprising to see Ashwin getting a place.
3) Dinesh Karthik
Dinesh Karthik has been a consistent feature in the recent India squads. However, there was a doubt if he would keep his place when the established batters return.
Now, DK has been selected despite the Asia Cup happening in UAE, where the pitches assist the spinners. The Tamil Nadu man is excellent against pace but has issues against spin. Therefore, the likes of Sanju Samson missing out was a surprise. Nevertheless, DK has earned this place through his performances and he deserves it.
