Team India are gearing up to begin their Asia Cup 2023 campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan in Pallekele on September 2.

While KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer’s return has bolstered the Indian side ahead of the continental event, there’s concerns remain over their fitness.

It is worth mentioning here that both players underwent surgeries earlier this year, followed by extended rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.

In fact, chief selector Ajit Agarkar told media while unveiling the squad last week that Rahul has picked up a fresh niggle, which might rule him out of the first few matches of the Asia Cup.

With less than a week to go for India’s Asia Cup opener, head coach Rahul Dravid all but confirmed that KL Rahul miss the first two matches of the competition against Pakistan and Nepal.

“KL Rahul is progressing really well but will not be available for India’s first two matches – against Pakistan and Nepal – of the #AsiaCup2023: Head Coach Rahul Dravid,” BCCI wrote on ‘X’ quoting Dravid’s statement.

Providing an update on Shreyas Iyer, the Indian head coach said: “Looked pretty good, all about giving him more game time, hopefully it will come in Asia Cup. In terms of fitness he has done really well, has batted really well, ticked all the boxes.”

In KL Rahul’s absence, Ishan Kishan will feature in the playing XI as a wicketkeeper-batter while Sanju Samson will travel with the team as a standby player.

India’s Asia Cup 2023 Squad:

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Akshar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammad Shami,

Stand-by Player: Sanju Samson