On Monday (August 08), BCCI announced India's full-strength squad for the Asia Cup 2022. The team will be led by Rohit Sharma while senior batters Virat Kohli and KL Rahul have returned to the line-up as was expected in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup 2022, slated to be held in Australia later this year.
If Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel were not ruled out due to injuries, then India's Asia Cup squad could have been the exact one that will take part in the T20 World Cup.
Nonetheless, it seems that the Chetan Sharma-led selection panel has zeroed in on India’s core group for the global event.
Reacting to India’s squad, former Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardena has acknowledged that it is a strong one that can defend the Asia Cup title. However, he pointed out a possible area of 'concern' for the Rohit Sharma-led side.
"That (Rahul's lack of cricket) would be a concern for India," Jayawardena told ICC.
"He has been out for a little while since the IPL, so having game time is quite crucial especially out there in the middle. The sooner he can get some game time and get that confidence back, is always going to help him, as well as the national team," he added.
KL Rahul has been out of competitive cricketing action since featuring in the IPL 2022 Eliminator for LSG against RCB on May 25. He suffered a groin injury ahead of the T20I series against South Africa in June, ruling him out of all five games. He was supposed to lead India in that series.
Things got even worse for him when Rahul was ruled out of the rescheduled Test against England followed by the white-ball games. The batter, in the meantime, flew to Germany and underwent sports hernia surgery.
When he seemed ready to make his comeback in the recently-concluded T20I series against West Indies, Rahul caught COVID-19 and as a result, his recovery got delayed.
Virat Kohli might be enduring an extended lean patch with the bat, but Jayawardena expects the former India skipper to regain his form.
"It is unfortunate what Virat is going through right now at the moment, but he is a quality player. I believe Virat has the tools to come out of it (the form slump). He has done that in the past as well and I’m sure he’ll come through this. Class is permanent and form is temporary,” he opined.
India will open their Asia Cup 2022 campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on August 28 in Dubai.
