"The youngsters are absolutely ready" - Aakash Chopra on India's strengths heading into Asia Cup 2023
Aakash Chopra feels Team India's youngsters' preparedness before they embark on their international careers is one of their biggest strengths heading into Asia Cup 2023.
The selectors have picked a 17-member Indian squad, with Sanju Samson as an additional traveling reserve, for the continental tournament to be played in Pakistan and Sri Lanka from Wednesday, August 30. The Men in Blue, who will play all their matches in Sri Lanka, will open their campaign with a Group A game against Pakistan in Pallekele on Saturday, September 2.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra picked India getting battle-hardened youngsters right from the start of their careers as one of their biggest strengths heading into the tournament. He elaborated:
"The young players come with potential and promise. It seems like they come prepared. There was a time when a new player came to play for India, he wasn't ready and it used to take two-and-a-half to three years to prepare the kid and players used to get lost in between at times."
The former Indian opener added:
"However, since the advent of the IPL, you may look at some pitfalls but a huge advantage is that the players who come are absolutely fearless. Whether you see Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma or Shreyas Iyer - they are all ready. So I consider it as a strength that the youngsters are absolutely ready."
Tilak Varma is the only player in the Indian squad yet to make his ODI debut. It will be interesting to see if he is included in the XI for the crunch game against Pakistan, especially if a spot is available in the middle order due to KL Rahul's potential unavailability for the initial part of the tournament.
"This team's current form is very good" - Aakash Chopra on India's other strengths
![India beat West Indies 2-1 in a recent ODI series. [P/C: AP]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2023/08/c42fa-16931929276961-1920.jpg?w=500)
Aakash Chopra believes India's excellent recent ODI form should also hold them in good stead. He observed:
"This team's current form is very good. Whenever they play bilateral cricket, no one is able to stop them. You did drop a match recently (against the West Indies) but you generally don't drop matches that easily. So the Indian team's record has been very, very good."
Chopra feels the presence of a plethora of immensely experienced players is another positive for the seven-time Asia Cup champions. He explained:
"There is a lot of experience. If you see Rohit Sharma as a captain, you see him with a huge sample size. Then Virat Kohli comes at No. 3 and you say - 'Wow'. Then Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami and Mohammed Siraj have also been playing for such a long time. You will not say Kuldeep Yadav is a rookie."
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are the two most experienced players in the Indian squad. While the former is just 102 runs short of the 13000-run mark in the 275 ODIs he has played, the latter needs 163 runs to achieve the 10000-run milestone after having played 244 games.