Iyer, Rahul return to India's squad for Asia Cup, Varma called up

The BCCI on Monday announced a 17-member Indian squad for the upcoming 2023 Asia Cup, with both KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer making their return from injuries to the team for the first time since March earlier this year while Tilak Varma earned his maiden ODI call-up on the back on an impressive show in the white-ball tour of West Indies. 

Bolstering the pace attack is Jasprit Bumrah, who also makes a comeback to the ODI format after an injury-forced absence of over a year; he is joined by the returning Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj. The latter duo was rested during India's recent fifty-over series against West Indies.

Both Rahul and Shreyas Iyer have been nursing their injuries at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, with the former returning to batting and wicketkeeping training earlier this month. Bumrah, meanwhile, marked his international comeback last week during the T20I series against Ireland, where he is also leading the team. Picking four wickets in two games, Bumrah has been the most economical bowler for the side in the series so far, as India took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series on Sunday night.

Rohit Sharma continues to lead the Indian team with Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, and Ishan Kishan among the top-order, while all-rounder Hardik Pandya retained his role as a vice-captain amid reports that Bumrah could likely replace him.

Team India will kickstart their Asia Cup 2023 campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on 2 September. Alongside India and Pakistan, Nepal form Group A in the tournament. India will play all of their matches in the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka.

Full squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (vc), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Shami, Siraj, Kuldeep, Prasidh Krishna

Backup: Sanju Samson