Asia Cup 2022 | Axar Patel’s exclusion was surprising for me, reveals Parthiv Patel

India will start their campaign in the Asia Cup on August 28 with a squad strengthened by KL Rahul and Virat Kohli. Both the veteran batters are back in the squad and also Deepak Hooda has been preferred over Shreyas Iyer in the team. Axar Patel is not included in the squad and his name is amongst the standbys along with Shreyas Iyer and Deepak Chahar. 

Former Indian cricketer Parthiv Patel expressed shock over Axar being on the sidelines for the tournament. 

“Another surprising exclusion for me was that of Axar Patel. He has delivered for the team whenever they wanted and did whatever was asked out of him,” Parthiv said on his official YouTube channel.

“I think they tried Ashwin at the last World Cup and if they need off-spin in Australia then they have the option of Hooda. So, as a backup for Jadeja, Axar should have been picked.”

With injuries to Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel, India have opted for the pace trio of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, and Avesh Khan for the tournament. They have included four spinners in the lineup and many have opined that they are one pacer short. Parthiv echoed the same sentiment saying India should have gone with three spinners and four seamers. 

“India has gone in with four spinners, which is a bit surprising given the conditions in the UAE. They have chosen just three seamers, which I feel is one short. They should have gone with three spinners and four seamers as we saw when IPL was played here that the pacers got a bit of help,” said Parthiv.