"Sabki izzat karenge to lootenge kiski" - Top 10 funny memes as Chahal, Samson, Ashwin, and others not included in India's Asia Cup squad
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the Indian squad for the upcoming 2023 Asia Cup on Monday, August 21. The 17-man squad comprised a good mixture of senior and young players.
Captain Rohit Sharma will have a near full-strength squad at his disposal for the very first time in his leadership tenure at the upcoming Asia Cup 2023.
Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul have recovered from their respective injuries and made a comeback to bolster the middle order, which has been an area of concern for India in the ODI format in the recent past.
Exciting youngster Tilak Varma earned a maiden call-up to the ODI side after impressive performances in the T20I series against West Indies. Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, and Tilak will most likely be the backup options in the batting department.
Unfortunately, Sanju Samson missed out even after performing well in the limited opportunities he got in the 50-over format.
The selectors opted to go with a strong five-man pace attack for the tournament and chose only one specialist spinner in Kuldeep Yadav. All-rounders Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja will assist him in the department.
While Jadeja and Kuldeep were certainties, Axar pipped competition from Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal due to his superior batting prowess as India were looking to avoid a long tail.
The selectors' decision to not include several prominent names like Yuzvendra Chahal, Sanju Samson, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Arshdeep Singh, and others in the squad did not go down well with the fans.
They vented their frustrations on the matter by compiling memes on Twitter and Instagram. Here is a collection of the best reactions:
Team India's squad for the Asia Cup 2023
Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (vc), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, and Prasidh Krishna.
Traveling stand-by player: Sanju Samson.