Asia Cup: 'Ashwin, Chahal should have been selected', 'Tilak can put pressure on Suryakumar' reactions to India squad

Former cricketers have reacted to India’s 17-member squad for the Asia Cup that left out spinners R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal while finding space for young Tilak Varma. Captained by Rohit Sharma, the squad was announced on Monday and will form the reference point for the 15-member ODI World Cup squad. Madan Lal and Karsan Ghavri both backed Ashwin and his experience to prove crucial at big ticket tournaments such as the Asia Cup and ODI World Cup. Instead, the selectors went with Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel as top-choice spinners. Talking points: Selectors gamble on uncapped Tilak; Chahal misses out on in pace-heavy attack “Australia have played Kuldeep Yadav very well. Yuzvendra Chahal should have got a chance. He is a match-winning bowler,” Lal told news agency PTI on the sidelines of CEAT Cricket Rating Awards on Monday. “Ashwin is someone who has taken 500-600 wickets… he knows how to take wickets. We did not play him in the WTC final, the team management knows better,” added the 1983 World Cup winner. Ghavri also voiced his support for Ashwin reminding everyone of the off-spinner’s wickets tally. “What is Ashwin supposed to prove after taking 712 international wickets? He has not been treated well despite being a senior player,” Ghavri said. “Ashwin is a quality player and he should have been selected for the Asia Cup. He will be a key bowler in the ODI World Cup on Indian pitches,” he said. Read | 'Tilak showed potential in West Indies', Rohit, Agarkar justify picks On the batting front, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer returned after a long injury layoff having undergone surgeries. “More or less it is the same team which we were all thinking about. The only concern is their fitness because both the Asia Cup and the World Cup are big events and level of fitness is very important,” Lal said. “If you are not fit physically then you are not mentally fit either; injuries always worry you. Hope the selectors have taken care of that.” The surprise factor in the Indian batting lineup comes from Tilak Varma who has been rewarded for strong show against the West Indies albeit in the T20Is. Ghavri believes Yashasvi Jaiswal should have been picked instead of Varma. “Yashasvi did very well in the West Indies. He’s in good form and given the way he has been performing, he should have been in the Asia Cup team. He has a bright future with Team India,” he said. “Everybody is rating Varma very highly, but where is the performance? I hope he does well,” he added. ‘Tilak Varma’s inclusion a good strategy’ [caption id=“attachment_12995392” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] India’s Tilak Varma hits a six against West Indies during the fifth T20 cricket match at Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida. AP[/caption] Contrary to Ghavri’s views, former Australia batter Matthew Hayden believes Tilak Varma’s inclusion will keep the likes of Suryakumar Yadav on their toes and rest of the lineup “honest”. “We’ve seen the class of Tilak Varma. I think it’s a good strategy in terms of not just this World Cup but even potentially getting into the next World Cup as well,” Hayden said at the same event. “The great thing about India is it’s got a really solid one-two-three combination. Similar to Australia actually, when you look at their last four or five months, they’ve had a really good and strong - what we like to call - the engine room. And then they’ve got some good problems to solve through the middle order. “And if they can fill spots with talented young players like Tilak Varma, put pressure on someone like Suryakumar Yadav, I think that’s a good strategy. Keep everyone honest in the side and performing. So not a bad move. I think it’s a great side.” Hayden stressed on the bench strength and “outliers” winning a team the World Cup when senior members of a squad are out with injuries. For India, Jasprit Bumrah played his first international fixture after 11 months, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer have been out of action for months leaving space for the young batters, such as Tilak, to come in. “In the landscape of modern cricket now, you’re going to get injuries,” Hayden said. “We’ve seen that with Jasprit Bumrah and we’ve seen the emergence of players in and around him that have had an opportunity because he hasn’t been playing. They look at their bench strength as much as they look at their playing make-up because ultimately you’re going to be challenged. “When I look back at the World Cup campaigns that I was a part of, I remember [Shane] Warne was out with a drug-related incident [in 2003] and then [Brad] Hogg comes into the side and has an unbelievable series in South Africa. So as much as we’d love to see superstars feature in World Cups, the outliers tend to be those players that might win you a World Cup. It might be Ishan Kishan, for example. He might have an unbelievable World Cup and blast everyone away. The selectors don’t write their names down first, but they have something special and they can deliver it on a World Cup stage.”