It seems pace alone will not give Umran Malik entry to the Indian squad. After several reports claimed that the Jammu & Kashmir fast bowler is primed to replace the injured Shivam Mavi in the Asian Games squad, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) pacer Akash Deep has edged Malik. The RCB medium pacer has replaced Mavi in the Continental Games squad after he was ruled out due back injury.
“The Men’s Selection Committee named Akash Deep as replacement for Shivam Mavi in the Indian squad for the Asian Games Hangzhou 2022. Mavi is suffering from a back injury and is ruled out of the tournament,” BCCI said in a statement.
Akash Deep had a mixed outing in the IPL 2023 season. However, the BCCI selection panel chose to back him in place of the more experienced Umran. The Ruturaj Gaikwad-led side are currently at NCA in Bangalore for a camp. India begin the Asian Game campaign on September 28. The Asian Games will be played in T20 format. Akash Deep is set to join the squad soon.
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Umran Malik falls under the pecking order as Akash Deep replaces Shivam Mavi
For the uninitiated, Malik last played T20I for India against New Zealand in January 2023. While the SRH pacer has done well in the limited opportunities in ODIs, he has failed to crack the code in T20Is so far. Malik has played eight T20Is and has played 11 wickets so far. However, it is his economy rate of 10.48, which might have prompted selectors to look beyond him.
Speaking about Akash Deep, he has turned for RCB 34 T20s and has picked up 39 wickets an economy rate of 7.38 runs per over. Akash Deep is also a handy lower-order batter.
The men’s cricket competition will begin on September 28 and go until October 8, while the women’s competition will run from September 19 through September 28. The T20 format will be used for both competitions.
India squad for Asian Games 2023: Ruturaj Gaikwad (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul Tripathi, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Shivam Mavi, Shivam Dube, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Akash Deep.
Standby list of players: Yash Thakur, Sai Kishore, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Sai Sudarsan.
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