The BCCI men's selection committee on Monday (August 21) announced India’s squad for the Asia Cup 2023, slated to be held in Sri Lanka and Pakistan from August 30 to September 17.
The highlight of the 17-member squad was promising youngster Tilak Varma’s inclusion. The southpaw received his maiden ODI call-up after impressing one and all with his consistency in the debut T20I series against West Indies earlier this month.
While KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer made a return to the team after a lengthy injury hiatus, Sanju Samson was picked just as a backup option and Suryakumar Yadav retained his place despite poor returns in the 50-over format so far.
Reflecting on India’s Asia Cup squad, former cricketer Aakash Chopra said Samson should have been selected over Tilak or Suryakumar.
Notably, Samson boasts a fantastic record in ODIs, scoring 390 runs at an average of 55.71 and a strike rate of 104.00 after 12 innings. During the recently held West Indies tour, he featured in two ODIs and registered scores of 9 and 51.
"The first big news is that Sanju Samson's name is not there. In whose place could his name have come? He would have come in place of either Tilak or Surya. He could have become a part of the 17 in place of either of them," Chopra said in a video uploaded on his YouTube channel.
"Sanju Samson's fans and Sanju Samson himself might consider themselves slightly unlucky because his performances are good in ODIs as of now as well. He has an average of over 50 and he scored a fifty in the West Indies also. There is no doubt that he plays well. He has a little work experience as well," he added.
Aakash Chopra also opined that Samson would be his preferred option over Ishan Kishan as KL Rahul's backup if the wicketkeeper-batter has to bat in the middle order.
"To be very honest, my initial thought was that if a wicketkeeper has to play in the middle order, Sanju Samson is definitely the second option after KL Rahul. However, if a place can be created as an opener, then Ishan Kishan, without a shadow of doubt, is your second wicketkeeper."
Suryakumar Yadav may have taken the cricketing world by storm with his whirlwind exploits in T20Is, but Chopra expressed uncertainty about his suitability for the ODI format.
"Suryakumar Yadav's story in ODI cricket has not been good. We all know that he is a very good player and we also want his ODI career to flourish but the truth is that he hasn't been able to understand the ODI template thus far. The problem is that you have very little time."
