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Gambhir’s bold gamble for Asia Cup exposes big void from Dravid’s T20 WC formula: ‘Sundar will be missed’
Mohammad Kaif warned that Gautam Gambhir’s Asia Cup squad lacked the 3 all-rounders Rahul Dravid had at the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Just a day before the start of the continental tournament in the UAE, former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif sparked a major concern after he highlighted a key difference between India's squad in the 2024 T20 World Cup last year under then-coach Rahul Dravid, and the current squad picked for the Asia Cup 2025 under the incumbent head coach Gautam Gambhir.
India won the T20 World Cup last year in Barbados, beating South Africa in the final. It was India's first ICC trophy in 11 years and the first world title in 13 years. The Men in Blue have since witnessed two significant changes in the dressing room. Rohit Sharma, the winning captain in the T20 World Cup, retired from the format, handing over the duty to Suryakumar Yadav, while Dravid was replaced by Gambhir.
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India are all set to play their first major T20 tournament this month in the UAE since the World Cup last year. But Kaif reckoned that the new side would have to make an effort to find a new winning formula as he outlined the difference in the two squads. He said that while the Rohit-led squad had three genuine all-rounders in Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya, the current side has just two - Axar and Hardik. He hinted that India will miss Washington Sundar in the UAE.
“Rohit's team won the T20 World Cup with 3 all-rounders - Axar, Jadeja, Hardik - and that meant 6 proper bowling options and batting till 8. At Asia Cup, with only 2 genuine allrounders - Hardik and Axar. - India will have to find a new winning combination. Washington Sundar will be missed,” he tweeted.
Why was Sundar not picked for Asia Cup?
The team management decided to keep Sundar on the stand-by list for the Asia Cup, and batter Rinku Singh was added to the 15-member list. Selection committee head Ajit Agarkar explained at the squad announcement in Mumbai last month that the decision was taken because the management felt India would need an extra batter in the UAE conditions.
He further highlighted that the squad already has three spin options - Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy, along with all-rounder Axar.
"He's (Sundar) always been in the scheme of things. At the moment, we have two mystery spinners/wristspinners in Varun and Kuldeep, and Axar has been around for a while. When we need four spinners - he may always be in the mix. For now, we felt we needed an extra batter in Rinku. And you could only pick 15. If there were 16, maybe he could've been in," Agarkar had said.
