Former Indian captain Kapil Dev backs Rahul and Iyer to play India’s first match in the Asia Cup

The World Cup-winning captain said that if players are not fit, they don’t need to be around

The Asia Cup is just a few days away and there are still concerns over the game time of two key members of the Indian team Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul. The duo hasn’t played any sort of competitive cricket for a while now and drafting them straight into the Asia Cup might backfire for the Indian team.

India’s first match is against arch-rivals Pakistan which also adds to the pressure of an international match.

The intensity of an India- Pakistan match is unmatchable and as a captain you always want your fittest team to take the field, With Rahul carrying a niggle and Shreyas Iyer with no serious match practice behind him will the Indian team take the risk of including the duo in such a high-intensity match against Pakistan is the biggest question

Legend’s corner

Meanwhile, Kapil Dev has put forward his views on such an intensely debated topic he said “Ideally every player should be tested out. The World Cup is so close but you still haven’t given the players a chance? What if they head to the World Cup and then get injured? The entire team will suffer.

At least they will get a chance to bat or bowl a little and get some rhythm going,” Kapil said on ABP News. “Worst case scenario, if the guys get injured again during the World Cup, it will be unfair to the players who will miss out on being part of the squad.

The injured players who have returned need to be given a chance. If they are fit, then they can play in the World Cup. There is no shortage of talent, but if they are not fit, India will have a chance to make changes to the World Cup squad right away.”

Curious case of Ishan Kishan

Another issue for India to ponder upon is the combination the team is going to go with in the first match against Pakistan with Rahul’s availability in doubt for the first match it is almost certain that Ishan will replace him as the only wicketkeeper in the squad that’s where the question of batting positions comes in as Rohit said that the team is seeing Ishan as an opener so it will be interesting to see who among Rohit and Shubman will give up their opening slot for Kishan and where will they bat in the batting order