Asia Cup 2022: In my team, Shami was literally there – K Srikkanth surprised by fast bowler’s exclusion from India’s squad

Former Indian selector Kris Srikkanth is surprised by Mohammed Shami’s exclusion from Asia Cup 2022 squad. Shami had performed consistently in the IPL and he had also done a decent job in the recent ODI series against England.

It is expected that the T20 World Cup squad is going to be similar to the Asia Cup’s team with only a couple of minor changes and it means that the selectors are not considering Shami for the T20I showpiece.

Shami had taken 20 wickets in 16 matches of IPL 2022 and he had played a key role in taking Gujarat Titans to glory in the tournament. Shami took four wickets in three ODIs against England. However, the gun fast bowler had played his last T20I for India in the 2021 T20 World Cup when the team played against Namibia.

Srikkanth added he would not have picked Ravi Bishnoi in the squad as Axar Patel is ahead in the pecking order for him. Patel is named in the standby players in the squad.

Speaking on Star Sports here’s what K Srikkanth had to say about Shami’s exclusion: “In my team, Shami was literally there. If I was the Chairman of the selection committee, I think Shami would have been there, and probably, I would not have gone with Ravi Bishnoi. But I still believe that Axar Patel was a serious contender in my team. It would have been a big toss-up between Axar Patel and Ashwin.”

Former Indian opener is happy with Deepak Hooda’s selection as he has performed consistently in the recent past but believes Axar Patel is unlucky to miss out on the Asia Cup squad.

“What I like about Deepak Hooda is that he’s a good striker of the ball, he’s a flirter. Otherwise, this is a fantastic squad, only feel bad for Axar Patel. I still believe that he’s a good bowling all-rounder, maybe in Australia conditions. I am not going for just the Asia Cup, but yes, this must be a blueprint for the ICC T20 World Cup also.”

India’s Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (VC), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dinesh Karthik (WK), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan.

Reserves: Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar, and Axar Patel.

India will begin their campaign in the Asia Cup against Pakistan at Dubai on 28th August.