Asia Cup 2022: 3 Players who deserved to be in India's squad for the tournament

The much-awaited Asia Cup 2022 is all set to begin on 27 August and run till 11 September. This edition will be played in a T20 format and will serve as a precursor to the T20 World Cup to be played in October-November. On Monday (8 August), the All-India Senior Selection Committee announced the 15-member squad for the Asia Cup.

The notable inclusions to the squad were the experienced duo of Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, who returned after rest and injury concerns respectively. The fast bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel missed out on the squad due to injury concerns.

The youngsters, Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan have been rewarded with the selections. However, there were some players who were unlucky to find a place in the squad, despite good performances.

3 players who deserved to be in the Asia Cup 2022 squad

1. Axar Patel

The talented all-rounder Axar Patel earned a call-up to the Indian team in the South Africa series due to the experienced players taking a rest after the busy Indian Premier League (IPL) season. He had an average series by taking three wickets and scoring 23 runs in five appearances.

In the Ireland series, Patel conceded 24 runs in three overs, while returning wicket-less. The 28-year-old featured in a single game against England and conceded 23 runs off two overs. He was given a longer rope in the Caribbean Tour across both formats.

The ODI leg of the series witnessed scoring 85 runs and picking two wickets in three appearances, which included his whirlwind knock of 64* off 35 helping India to secure a victory. In the T20I series, he scalped five wickets in two appearances, with the best figures of 3/15. He is chosen as one of the three backup players for the tournament and will be a replacement for an injured/unwell player.

2. Sanju Samson

The most notable exclusion from the Asia Cup 2022 squad was the keeper-batter Sanju Samson. He earned a selection in the Ireland series on the back of terrific performances in IPL 2022, wherein he slammed 458 runs in 17 innings.

Samson scored a terrific 77 off 42 balls on his return to international cricket against Ireland. Afterwards, Samson scored 72 runs in three innings of the ODI series against West Indies, while remaining unbeaten in one of them. In the T20I series, the 28-year-old garnered 45 runs at an average of 45 in the T20I leg of the Caribbean Tour.

Making his debut in 2015, he has featured in only four ODIs and 16 T20Is, despite his impressive performances in the IPL. Furthermore, his strong wicket-keeping skills were on the show in his recent appearances as well.  The non-selection into the Asia Cup squad certainly is a shocking one for the cricket fraternity.

3. Ishan Kishan

The swashbuckling batter has been a revelation in terms of his ball striking capabilities. Riding on a good second half of the IPL 2022, Ishan Kishan earned a call-up to the South Africa series. He responded in a brilliant fashion by accumulating 206 runs in five innings and emerging as the top run-scorer in the series.

Afterwards, Kishan garnered 29 runs in two innings against Ireland. However, the southpaw could not feature in enough games of the series against England and West Indies and garnered 19 runs in two innings.

In place of Kishan, several players like Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav donned the role of an opener in the T20Is. The presence of Shikhar Dhawan and Shubman Gill further dented his opportunity to feature on the ODI side. Looking at the playing XI of the Indian team, Kishan, unfortunately, does not fall into the scheme of things for the T20 World Cup as well.