Ahead of the upcoming Asia Cup and the ODI World Cup, Team India are sweating over the fitness of first-choice batters like KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer.
As a result, the Indian team management provided consistent opportunities to players like Sanju Samson in the white-ball leg of the recently-concluded West Indies tour.
However, Samson failed to make the most of the opportunities. In six innings, he aggregated 92 runs, including a half-century in the third ODI.
Now, a report published in TOI, quoting a source, claims that Samson could find himself out of India's 15-member ODI squad for the Asia Cup, likely to be announced on August 20.
"Right now, the selectors are likely to only pick the Asia Cup team. The World Cup squad will mostly be picked later," a source told TOI.
Even though Sanju Samson possesses an impressive ODI average of 55.71 after 13 games, his chances of selection are very low as KL Rahul is likely to return from injury while Ishan Kishan has proved himself as a decent opener-keeper.
Ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah is likely to make a comeback into India's ODI side for the Asia Cup alongside Prasidh Krishna, who hasn’t played for the country since August 2022 due to multiple injuries.
"Prasidh can generate pace and bounce and will give a new dimension to our pace attack. Before they pick the team for the Asia Cup, it will be nice if the selectors get to watch both Bumrah and Prasidh bowl in the opening T20I against Ireland on August 18," a source told TOI.
The Asia Cup 2023 is scheduled to take place in Sri Lanka and Pakistan from August 30 and September 17.
While all the other participants have announced their squads for the continental tournament, the BCCI is taking its time to get a better idea about the fitness of some players.
"Rahul is by and large fit, and is 'keeping wickets too, while Shreyas Iyer (operated for a back injury) is still not 100%. Both have taken part in match simulations at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore and will play a practice match soon. The fitness of the players who are back from the West Indies tour will also be assessed by the team and NCA's physios. Hence the delay in naming the team," explained the source.
(With TOI Inputs)
