Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar has said that India will have to fit in a left-hander in their starting XI in the form of Tilak Varma for their Asia Cup 2023 opening match against Pakistan which will be played on September 2nd in Kandy, Sri Lanka.
Tilak Varma was a surprise inclusion in the Indian Asia Cup 2023 squad as the BCCI selection committee was impressed with his maiden T20I outings in West Indies, where he scored 173 runs including a half-century and a knock of 49*.
Sanjay Manjrekar said that he would go with KL Rahul is the wicket-keeper against Pakistan while picking his starting XI. Rahul was picked in India’s 17-member squad for the Asia Cup after recovering from a thigh injury.
However, Ajit Agarkar, the chief selector mentioned that Rahul is suffering a fresh niggle and might miss a couple of games in Asia Cup 2023.
“My three seamers would be Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami. Hardik Pandya would be my fourth seamer. My spinners would be Jadeja and Kuldeep. My opener would be Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma. No. 3 batter would be Virat Kohli. KL Rahul would play because he is the keeper,” said Manjrekar said on ESPNCricinfo.
He then said that India has a plethora of right-handed batters in the middle order including Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya and they need to play Tilak Varma as the left-handed option in the middle.
“Either Shreyas Iyer or Tilak Varma could play [in the middle-order]. I am saying this because in India’s first-choice side XI, the first seven (six) batters, including Hardik Pandya, are all right-handers. Somewhere, India will have to fit in a left-hander in Tilak Varma. This is a problem India has,” Manjrekar added.
After playing Pakistan on September 2nd, India will face Nepal on September 4th, also in Kandy, Sri Lanka.
