Former Pakistan cricketer Danish Kaneria has expressed his disappointment with India’s squad selection for the upcoming Asia Cup, scheduled to commence on August 30. Kaneria has criticized the Indian selectors for their decision to exclude Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sanju Samson from the squad for the continental tournament.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) unveiled a 17-member squad for the highly anticipated Asia Cup 2023. While middle-order batsmen KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer have made their return to the squad, Suryakumar Yadav has retained his spot. Additionally, promising talent Tilak Varma has received his maiden call-up to the national ODI team.
In an interview with Timesnownews.com, Danish Kaneria voiced his discontent with the omission of Yashasvi Jaiswal from the Asia Cup 2023 squad despite the young talent being in remarkable form. Kaneria remarked that Jaiswal, who had showcased his potential in both Test and T20 formats against West Indies, was inexplicably left out of the team.
“Yashasvi Jaiswal diggaj ballebaaz, Test mein uchaal macha diya, T20 mein acha khela. Ek player jo form mein hai, jiske balle pe ball acha lagta hai, usko aapne baahar kar diya team se,” Kaneria said. (Yashasvi Jaiswal is a great batter who showed his potential in the Test and T20Is vs. West Indies. You drop a player who is in tremendous form.)
Yashasvi Jaiswal’s recent debut for India during the West Indies tour left a significant impact. The left-handed batter notched up an impressive 171 runs in his debut Test inning, and his performance also extended to the T20 format. Across two Test matches, Jaiswal accumulated 266 runs with an impressive average of 88.67, including a century and a half-century.
Kaneria did not reserve his critique solely for Jaiswal’s exclusion. He also questioned the inclusion of Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul, who needed more match practice. Moreover, Kaneria pointed out that despite being given several opportunities, Sanju Samson had failed to make a substantial impact.
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Kaneria’s views were clear: “Sanju Samson did not make use of the many chances that he was given, but still he was playing matches. You drop Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, but include KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer who lack match practice.”
The upcoming Asia Cup is set to ignite with a clash between the Rohit Sharma-led Indian team and arch-rivals Pakistan. The match is scheduled at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Saturday, September 2. Following this encounter, India will take on Nepal in their next match at the same venue on Monday, September 4.
