Asia Cup Yashasvi Jaiswal, 3 Big Stars May Not be Included in Indian Squad, Claims Report

Now that Team India has completed its historic tour of England, they are preparing for their next big task — the Asia Cup.

According to a PTI report, the Ajit Agarkar headed selection committee will likely finalize the squad on August 19 or 20, depending on when the Centre of Excellence (CoE) Sports Science team submits fitness reports for all players, including skipper Suryakumar Yadav, who has already begun batting in practice in the nets at Bengaluru.

"Abhishek Sharma is world's No. 1 T20 batter in last ICC rankings. Sanju Samson has been fantastic last season with both bat and gloves. So it will certainly be a tough call but Shubman in current form (although in Tests) can't be ignored. He had a good IPL also. Problem for selectors is, there are too many performers at the top of the order," a BCCI source privy to developments told PTI.

With the issue of too many middle-order batsmen in India's top order, getting Yashasvi Jaiswal or Sai Sudharsan into the team seems difficult.

Even KL Rahul, at present India's preferred wicketkeeper in ODIs, is not going to find a place here because he is not part of middle-order plans.

Sanju Samson will most likely be selected as the main wicketkeeper. Jitesh Sharma and Dhruv Jurel are going head to head for the reserve role. Although Jurel has been included in the latest T20I series, Jitesh impressed during RCB's championship-winning IPL season and played a very good finisher's role.

Hardik Pandya is still the first choice white-ball seam-bowling all-rounder. Nitish Kumar Reddy, who was injured in the England series, cannot be expected to make it in time. Shivam Dube, who made a comeback and impressed in the match against England, is likely to be picked again. Axar Patel and Washington Sundar will be picked as spin-bowling all-rounders.

While Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh have already cemented their place, the third pacer position is being fought between Prasidh Krishna — who picked 25 wickets in the previous IPL — and hard-hitting Harshit Rana, who is famous for producing additional bounce and pace.

Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana/Prasidh Krishna, Hardik Pandya, Jitesh Sharma/Dhruv Jurel.