India skipper Rohit Sharma has offered words of encouragement to players who have failed to make it to the India squad for the upcoming Asia Cup 2023. The BCCI, on Monday (August 21), announced a 17-member squad for the continental championship.

With several big names returning to the team after recovering from injuries, players who have played for India in ODIs in recent times had to make way in the team. The likes of  Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jaydev Unadkat, Umran Malik and Mukesh Kumar were part of India’s squad for the last ODI assignment in West Indies but were dropped for the Asia Cup.

Sanju Samson has also only made it to the team as a backup wicketkeeper as KL Rahul is still carrying a niggle. And as the players faced the axe from the team for the Asia Cup, skipper Rohit Sharma came up with some words of encouragement for them. Rohit Sharma mentioned that he himself had to face such a situation in his career as he tried to motivate the players.

“Yeah, I mean look, it’s tough. I have been in that position myself many times, so I understand how it feels and how it is for someone who has been playing for a year and doing the job. But the guys who we are going to get in are proven players.

“They’ve scored loads of runs, won us so many games, so you obviously cannot neglect that part of their game. I do understand when guys like Tilak, Shubman, Surya, Sanju, Jaiswal and many others… I may be forgetting a few names but these are the names that were there in West Indies. They have to wait for their time, they have to wait for the right opportunities. That is all I can say,” Rohit Sharma told the reporters after the squad announcement.

India squad for Asia Cup 2023:

Several big names have returned to the team for the continental championship. Both KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer have been picked in the team while Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna have also returned to the ODI side. Rahul and Iyer have not played a competitive game for India since May and March this year respectively.

On the other hand, Bumrah and Prasidh had not played since September and August last year and recently returned to action in the ongoing T20I series against Ireland.

India squad for Asia Cup 2023: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (VC), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Prasidh Krishna, Sanju Samson (backup)

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