His name must be recurring in lot of people's heads: Tom Moody names Indian stars to be missed during Asia Cup
F
ormer Australian cricketer Tom Moody named some Indian players he felt the Men in Blue will be missing for their services during the upcoming Asia Cup, starting from August 30 onwards - Ravichandran Ashwin, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Arshdeep Singh.
The Asia Cup 2023 will kick off on August 30 onwards and will be held in Pakistan-Sri Lanka. India will kickstart their campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan from September 2 onwards.
Talking to Star Sports, Moody said, "Ashwin is one name that is going to be recurring in a lot of people's heads. Particularly because they have selected 17 players, there is not genuine off-spinner in that spinner. You have got Kuldeep who spins away the ball from a left-handed batter. I don't think this will be a major problem."
Ashwin has been out of India's ODI set-up since a long while. He has represented India in 113 matches in the 50-over format, picking up 151 wickets and has scored 707 runs at an average of 16.44 in 63 innings, with one half-century. He last played an ODI against South Africa in January 2022, making a comeback in the format after 2017.
Moody said that the inclusion of Samson as a reserves player makes sense because KL Rahul, the regular wicketkeeper-batter option has a niggle and in case his fitness worsens, India will need a like-to-like back-up.
"Two names I would like to throw are Yashasvi Jaiswal, he has had an incredible run over the last 12 months. I know he has not played 50-over cricket for India, but he is a sensational player. You do not get something much hotter than what he is at the moment. Also, Arshdeep Singh, they may have looked at a left-armer among their pace options just to give them the variety and different angles," he added.
Yashasvi made his international debut for India on a tour of the West Indies in July-August. So far, he has scored 266 runs in two Tests at an average of 88.66, with one century and one fifty. He smashed 171 on his international debut. He has also scored 132 runs in five T20Is at an average of 33.00, with one fifty and a best score of 84*. His attacking intent and dashing strokeplay have impressed many.
Arshdeep has played three ODIs but went wicketless. In 33 T20Is though, he has 50 wickets, with the best figures of 4/37.
In the Asia Cup, Pakistan, India and Nepal are in Group A while Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka are in Group B. The tournament will follow a hybrid model with Pakistan hosting four matches across two venues and Sri Lanka hosting the remaining games.
The six group-stage matches will be followed by the Super Fours, beginning September 6.
The final will be played by the top two teams at the end of the Super Fours on September 17 in Colombo.
Indian Squad: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna.
✔️ His name must be recurring in lot of people's heads: Tom Moody names Indian stars to be missed during Asia Cup
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