'No Chance Of Winning T20 World Cup With...': Ex-IND Selector Slams Asia Cup Team
Kris Srikkanth has said India will fail to defend its T20 World Cup title next year with the team selected for Asia Cup 2025.
Former India selector and batter Kris Srikkanth believes India has gone 'backwards' with their Asia Cup 2025 squad selection. Soon after the Ajit Agarkar-led committee announced the squad on Tuesday, he said even if this team wins the ACC tournament, it won't be good enough to defend the T20 World Cup crown next year.
Srikkanth's major apprehension was with the selections of Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, and Harshit Rana. Rinku is the team's designated opener since his excellent showing in IPL 2023, while Dube and Rana got into the side with consistent performances in IPL 2024. But all three were out of form in the recent 2025 edition.
Srikkanth also took exception to removing Axar Patel from the team's vice-captaincy for Shubman Gill, who hadn't played any T20 cricket since 2024.
'We might win the Asia Cup with this team, but there is no chance of winning the T20 World Cup with this bunch," Srikkanth said in a video on his YouTube channel, as quoted by Sportskeeda. 'Are you going to take this team to the World Cup? Is this the preparation for the T20 World Cup, which is hardly six months away? They have gone backwards. Axar Patel has been axed from vice-captaincy. I don't know how Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube and Harshit Rana have come in. IPL is considered the main criteria for selection, but the selectors seem to have considered performances before that."
Srikkanth believes that the team lacks a natural number five. In the team's last T20, Dube batted at that spot and scored 30 off 13 with India putting up 247/9.
'Who will bat at No. 5? Five has to be either Sanju Samson, Jitesh Sharma or Shivam Dube or Rinku Singh. Hardik Pandya usually bats at No. 5, so now, Patel Axar cannot bat at six. I can't understand how they picked Dube. Yashasvi Jaiswal have performed in international cricket and IPL as well. What does he do?" Srikkant said.
India's Asia Cup campaign begins on September 10 against the UAE.
view comments
First Published:
Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Loading comments...
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
Muslim Nation SNAPS At Israel; Egypt Rejects Reports Seeking Transfer Of Hamas Weapons
Asia Cup 2025: India Squad Announced | Surya Named Captain, Gill Vice-Captain he BCCI has announced India's 15-member squad for the Asia Cup 2025 with Suryakumar Yadav leading the side and Shubman Gill as vice-captain. Big names like Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shreyas Iyer missed out, while Jasprit Bumrah made the cut despite workload concerns. Chief selector Ajit Agarkar explained the tough calls, highlighting Abhishek Sharma's all-round value and Gill's leadership growth. The Asia Cup will run from September 9–28 in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, featuring eight teams split into two groups. India begin their campaign against UAE on September 10, followed by the high-voltage clash with Pakistan on September 14 in Dubai. The tournament concludes with the final on September 28. 30.6K views | 1 day ago
Hindustan Times
2 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
England women's rugby coach Mitchell says World Cup favourites' tag 'irrelevant'
England coach John Mitchell believes it is "irrelevant" his side are favourites to win the Women's Rugby World Cup. HT Image Tournament hosts England kick-off this year's World Cup against the United States in Sunderland on Friday, with the Red Roses also facing Samoa and Australia in Pool A. England, the world's top-ranked side, have lost only once in their past 58 matches a defeat by Mitchell's native New Zealand in the Covid-delayed 2022 World Cup final. Mitchell, after naming his side Wednesday to play the United States, was asked about the challenge of being dubbed favourites even though England have lost lost five of the past six World Cup finals to New Zealand and were last crowned world champions back in 2014 "It doesn't really matter," said Mitchell, a former head coach of New Zealand's men's All Blacks. "We start the tournament equal like everyone else. "Being favourites is irrelevant to us. It might be relevant to your section of the world. We've just got to be where our feet are and earn the right each week." England, currently on a 27-game winning run, face a United States side ranked 10th in the world, with Mitchell urging his side to embrace being "hunted" by their opponents during the World Cup. "It's really important to basically focus on ourselves," he said. "We understand their threats it's not that we don't look at their threats but ultimately at the end of the day it's really important to focus on what we do and how we improve our margins, make sure that we perform above our standards." Mitchell added: "I'm sure if we take care of that, then that will take care of the threats. "Every team will rise 10 or 15 percent in this tournament because they're playing against England, that's just what we expect. From that point of view, we realise we're hunted but we also look forward to that as well." jdg/lp This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
2 hours ago
- First Post
'Security in India much better than Pakistan': Hockey India secretary general responds to Asia Cup withdrawals
Pakistan and Oman had withdrawn from the upcoming Men's Hockey Asia Cup in Rajgir, Bihar, with the former citing security concern as the reason for their exit. Hockey India secretary general Bhola Nath Singh, who is also the vice-president of the Asian Hockey Federation, disagrees with their stance. Hockey India secretary general Bhola Nath Singh added that the nation will be focusing on successfully hosting the upcoming Men's Asia Cup in Rajgir instead of focusing on Pakistan's withdrawal. Image credit: Hockey India Hockey India secretary general Bhola Nath Singh played down the significance of Pakistan and Oman pulling out of the upcoming Men's Asia Cup that will be taking place in Rajgir, Bihar, stating that the security situation in India is much better than Pakistan. The Pakistan Hockey Federation had cited security concerns while pulling out of the Asia Cup, which takes place between 29 August and 7 September even as the Indian government agreed to issue visas for their players. That, however, is not the case with Oman, who have withdrawn from the 8-team event reportedly due to financial constraints. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Pakistan and Oman have since been replaced by Bangladesh and Kazakhstan respectively, the latter placed in Pool A along with hosts India as well as China and Japan. Hockey India hits back at Pakistan over security concerns 'Why isn't Pakistan coming? Why are they not participating? This is not clear to us,' Asian Hockey Federation vice-president Singh said in response to Pakistan's withdrawal. 'If they are citing security concerns, I can confidently say that security and all the arrangements in India are much better than in Pakistan,' he added. Singh added that India's focus remains on successfully hosting the tournament, the winner of which will qualify for next year's World Cup in Belgium and Netherlands. 'Who is coming and who is not coming, we don't care about that. Whoever has qualified, whoever is coming, we welcome everyone to India. 'For us, we have to organise this as a grand success, and whoever is coming, we welcome them wholeheartedly,' he added. Team India face China in their opening game on 29 August before taking on Japan and Kazakhstan on 31 August and 1 September respectively. The top two teams from each group compete in the Super4s which take place from 3 to 6 September, in which each team plays each of the remaining three sides once round-robin style. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The top-two teams at the end of the Super4s compete in the final on 7 September while the other two teams lock horns in the third-fourth place playoff earlier in the day.
