India Test skipper Shubman Gill made his way into the 15-member Asia Cup T20I squad as Suryakumar Yadav's deputy and so did Jasprit Bumrah while Mumbaikars Shreyas Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal missed out.
Gill was expected to make it to the squad with him being in prolific form in the longest format of the sport recently against England and his T20 big hitting ability well documented. Iyer, who was in contention for a middle order slot, could not make it to the 15-member team but chairman of senior selection committee Ajit Agarkar stated that his time will come. ''There is no fault of his. His time will come.''
When asked whether Gill will open the innings, Suryakumar had this to say. 'I think this is the first big T20I tournament after the T20 World Cup. There are more T20Is after this also with around 20-22 matches to go. It's a good tournament to test ourselves. Journey starts from the Asia Cup, '' he added. Chairman of the Senior Selection Committee Ajit Agarkar echoed Suryakumar's sentiments.
It is Gill's batting slot that the team management will have to take a call upon as openers Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson have hardly put a foot wrong in their performances thus far.
However, chairman Agarkar saw the fight for slots as a good headache to have rather than a problem. "There are more options (for top order) now and Shubman has been in a great form anyway. When they get to Dubai, they can decide on the playing XI according to the opposition and the conditions," he added.
Samson is likely to bat in the middle order if Gill is slotted in the opener's role which is quite likely given his past performances and comfort level at that spot. "Sanju was playing because Shubman and Yashasvi were not available at that point (and) so was Abhishek. (But) Abhishek's performances clearly makes it hard to leave him out. Plus, his bowling is handy," he said.
"Like I said, he (Shubman) was (the) vice-captain the last time he played T20 cricket. That was after the last World Cup so even at that point, clearly we were thinking along those lines. "Now that he's available, at least he (Suryakumar) has two options. It's their headache to pick the batting lineup (now); ours was to pick the 15 and so. But we've got some real depth as far as T20 cricket is concerned and we are very happy with it," he added.
The return of Jasprit Bumrah will boost India's bowling depth in the continental showpiece although there were some doubts about his availability with the home Test series against West Indies not far away.
The first Test against the West Indies starts on October 2 in Ahmedabad, which is about three days after the Asia Cup final concludes on September 28 in Dubai.
This will be the Indian pace spearhead's first T20I assignment after last year's T20 World Cup. With workload management being the buzzword whenever Bumrah's name comes up after he opted to play only three out of five Tests against England, Alligator revealed there are no such plans for the Asia Cup.
"There's no written plan at the moment. We have had a nice break from the England series. We are trying to look after him. ...most fast bowlers are monitored and it won't change. How we require him (for future tournaments) is also important," he said.
