Tilak Varma doubtful for Asian Games, likely to stay back as WC reserve

The newest member of India Cricket Team, Tilak Varma is in high demand. While he was supposed to play in the Asian Games 2023, he is likely to miss the continental event as Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma want him to stay back with the squad for World Cup 2023. This development is especially after Shreyas Iyer suffered another back problem en route to full recovery.

Apart from Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson, Prasidh Krishna and Yuzvendra Chahal are among the reserves even though they have not been named during World Cup 2023 squad announcement.

While Tilak Varma is not in the World Cup 2023 squad, the situation has changed. Shreyas Iyer’s back problem is concerning. And with the team management keen on an explosive left-hander in the middle-order, they want Tilak Varma to stay back as per an ESPN Cricinfo report.

Since making his debut in West Indies, Tilak Varma has impressed all. In 7 matches, Tilak has a half-century and has averaged 34.80 with a strike rate of 138.09.

India Cricket Team will begin their campaign on October 3 in Asian Games 2023 in the quarterfinals. If they win the quarterfinal battle, they will play the semifinals on October 5 and a win will take them to the Gold Medal match on October 7. Bronze medal match is also on October 7.

Team India will open their World Cup 2023 campaign against Australia on Oct 8 in Chennai. Hence, if Tilak Varma makes the trip to Hangzhou, he will miss the opener of World Cup 2023.

However, the India team management does not want to risk Tilak Varma in Asian Games 2023 as it’s not a “priority”. Sanju Samson is another batting cover. But it’s unclear whether he will be sent to Asian Games instead. He will only be a third wicketkeeper-batter after KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan.

Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda and Sai Sudarshan are three standby batters for India in Asian Games 2023. Hence, if Tilak Varma misses out, either of them will travel with the main squad.

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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)

Standby: Yash Thakur, Sai Kishore, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Sai Sudarsan.

India Squad for Cricket World Cup 2023

Batters: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav

WKs: Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul (VC)

Seam all-rounders: Shardul Thakur

Spin all-rounders: Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin

Seamers: Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna

Spinner: Kuldeep Yadav