Ajit Agarkar, chief selector of the senior men’s India team, announced their Asia Cup squad today (August 21). However, there was some confusion regarding Shubman Gill’s place in the team.
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Gill has been a major part of the Indian ODI set-up in the last one year. In fact, he has been the highest run-scorer for India in ODIs since 2022 and has cemented his spot at the top of the order, taking the place of Shikhar Dhawan.
Most recently, Gill was part of the Indian team for the tour of the West Indies where he featured in every game in each of the three formats. He was rested from the Ireland tour with an eye on the gruelling two to three months of cricket coming up, which is why, when the host broadcasters initially showed that Gill was not a part of the Asia Cup squad, it raised a lot of eyebrows.
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Star Sports, broadcasting the India squad announcement, did not have Gill on their announcement infographic, having revealed the names before Agarkar and Rohit Sharma appeared for the press conference. It was only after sending Indian cricket followers into a frenzy for a few minutes that they course-corrected and mentioned that Gill is, indeed, present in the squad.
[caption id=”attachment_546458″ align=”alignnone” width=”1366″]
The broadcasters excluded Gill from the original version of the Asia Cup squad that they showed first-up[/caption]
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The corrected the squad after a few minutes just as Rohit and Agarkar were about to address the media, but without Sanju Samson[/caption]
Here’s the actual squad:
🚨 Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul are back 🚨
BCCI has announced India's squad for the 2023 men's Asia Cup.#ShreyasIyer #KLRahul #India #AsiaCup #Cricket #RohitSharma pic.twitter.com/rJU6pJLTOX
— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) August 21, 2023
The confusion led to strong reactions from the Indian fans as the idea of Gill, who has scored 1388 runs at an average of 69.40 in ODIs since 2022, not being in the Asia Cup squad (barring a mysterious injury) was unfathomable. However, as Agarkar announced, Gill did find himself in the squad and is expected to play a big role going forward.
Shubman Gill is definitely in the squad, someone just messed up big time. #AsiaCup
— Peeyush Sharma (@peeyushsharmaa) August 21, 2023
If you know you know 😜 #AsiaCup2023 pic.twitter.com/wV1V57V2E3
— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) August 21, 2023
1.26pm – Shubman Gill is not there in Asia Cup 2023 squad.
1.34pm – Shubman Gill is there in Asia Cup 2023 squad. pic.twitter.com/y8bKYGaUUe
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) August 21, 2023
Shubman Gill was on his way to BCCI headquarters after not finding his name. Now he’s on his way to Star Sports office for mini attack.
— Silly Point (@FarziCricketer) August 21, 2023
Great comeback by Shubman Gill on Star Sports.
— Trendulkar (@Trendulkar) August 21, 2023
Shubman Gill rested for the Asia Cup? Other than an injury, this move is shocking!#AsiaCup2023
— Subhayan Chakraborty (@CricSubhayan) August 21, 2023
