Shamik Chakrabarty, Mumbai
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday issued a “red alert” for rain in Mumbai and its suburbs. It’s been pouring almost non-stop for the last 36 hours and the forecast for the next two days is heavy to very heavy rainfall. Bad weather might upset the Asia Cup selection plans, which is scheduled on Tuesday.
With uncertainty over flights, there’s even an outside chance that the selectors might meet virtually to finalise a 15-member squad for the Asia Cup, according to a BCCI insider. A post-selection press conference is unlikely as of now, although the cricket board is keeping its options open.
There’s a school of thought that a 17-member squad wouldn’t be a bad idea, for that will give the team management a bigger room to manoeuvre. But with the next T20 World Cup just six months away, the selectors prefer to zero in on the 15, who will more or less form the squad for the ICC event. India haven’t played with a full-strength squad in the shortest format since the 2024 T20 World Cup. That is likely to change, as the preparation for the marquee tournament begins in earnest.
As things stand, the top three is an open-and-shut case. Abhishek Sharma, with his high-impact quotient, is going to be one of the first names on the team sheet. In India’s last T20I series, against England earlier this year, the left-hander had scored 279 runs, including a 54-ball 135 at Wankhede, at a strike-rate of 219.68. His opening partner, Sanju Samson, was a bit off-colour in that series, struggling against Jofra Archer’s pace and bounce. But he had hit three hundreds in five innings before that, against Bangladesh and South Africa. The selectors are unlikely to tweak a settled opening combination.
This queers the pitch for Shubman Gill. He is India’s Test captain and probably the ODI captain-designate. Gill can’t be picked as a reserve opener. If he is there in the squad, he has to be in the playing XI. But Tilak Varma’s rise as a No. 3 offers little leeway to accommodate Gill in the top order, notwithstanding his class. It is learnt that Yashasvi Jaiswal might have a better chance to be there as a back-up opener.
What about Shreyas Iyer? With Nitish Kumar Reddy injured, there’s a vacancy in the middle-order. According to sources, it’s a virtual shootout between Shreyas and Washington Sundar. Nobody manages the middle overs better than the Mumbai batter Washington offers his all-round skill set — a floater in the batting line-up and an off-spinner, who can bowl in the Powerplays. Gautam Gambhir, India’s head coach, prefers multi-skilled cricketers, but Shreyas has his batting exploits in the 2025 IPL to fall back on.
Kuldeep Yadav’s selection will depend on whether the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee and the team management want to have a bowling X-factor at No. 8 at the expense of batting depth.
As for the third seamer after Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh, it’s a contest between Harshit Rana and Prasidh Krishna, with the former having his nose in front.
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