BCCI announced the Indian Cricket Team squad for Asia Cup 2022 which is scheduled to begin in UAE on June 27. The Asia Cup will start just after the conclusion of India vs Zimbabwe ODI series. Rohit Sharma has been named captain of India’s 15-member squad for the Asia Cup. Krunal Pandya has failed to get a place in Indian Squad for Asia Cup 2022. Fans are quite upset with his omission and want to know the reason as to Why Krunal Pandya is not selected in India’s Squad for Asia Cup 2022?
India’s Asia Cup 2022 Squad
Rohit Sharma (Capt ), KL Rahul (VC), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, R Pant (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, R Jadeja, R Ashwin, Y Chahal, R Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan.
Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel and Deepak Chahar have been named as standbys.
Why Krunal Pandya is not selected in India’s Squad for Asia Cup 2022?
Krunal Pandya is not selected in the squad for Asia Cup because there are already two spin-all rounders in the 15-member squad. Ravindra Jadeja is the first choice spin all-rounder whereas Deepak Hooda has also been included in the team. Therefore, there was no place for Krunal Pandya.
The Indian Cricket Team squad for ICC T20 World Cup 2021 was announced on September 9 by the selectors. 18 players were selected in a meeting of the selection committee chaired by Chief Selector Chetan Sharma. Apart from the 15 main players, three were selected as reserves. As expected, several notable names were missing from the Indian squad. Regular starters of Indian team like Shikhar Dhawan and Yuzvendra Chahal failed to get a place in the squad for T20 World Cup. Some unexpected names like Axar Patel and R. Ashwin surprisingly got a place in the squad. Every player has a dream to represent his country in a World Cup, but not everyone gets this opportunity. Apart from some big omissions, all-rounder Krunal Pandya did not get his name in the final list. His fans are left disappointed because everyone was hoping for his selection. Let’s see why Krunal Pandya is not selected in India’s T20 World Cup Squad.
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India T20 World Cup 2021 Squad
Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (Vice-Captain), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami
Standby players – Shreyas Iyer, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar.
Why Krunal Pandya is not selected in India’s T20 World Cup Squad?
Krunal Pandya was not selected in India’s T20 World Cup squad because selectors decided to go with Delhi Capitals’ all-rounder Axar Patel over him. In the T20 format, there is utmost importance of all-rounders in the team. And in pitches of UAE, spin all-rounders have to play the most important part. Therefore, Indian team is stuffed with all-rounders. The selectors have picked Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja and R. Ashwin. Picking Krunal Pandya would be a tough task because one of the above players would have to be sacrificed. However, the selectors went with Axar Patel, perhaps because he’s the better bowler.
Chief Selector Chetan Sharma said the following statement regarding all-rounders in the team.
“T20 is all about the all-rounders. We have tried and packed the team with all-rounders. We have Jadeja, Hardik and Axar. That was the main point, if the wickets are turning you have Axar and Jadeja, then Hardik is one of the main all-rounders India have.”
There is no doubt that Mumbai Indians all-rounder Krunal Pandya has been one of the best genuine all-rounders in the shortest format of the game for India in the last few years. He has delivered several match-winning performances against top teams in his short T20I career. He has picked 15 wickets in 19 T20I games at an average and strike rate of 36.93 and 27.33 respectively.
