Former India selector Jatin Paranjape questioned the selection of Harshit Rana in the Men in Blue's 15-member squad for Asia Cup which was announced on Tuesday by the selection committee chief, Ajit Agarkar. He further shared that he also wasn't satisfied with the selectors leaving out Shreyas Iyer from the squad.
Paranjape feels that Prasidh Krishna could have been a better pick than Rana for the continental tournament and added that the latter got into the squad because he has the full backing of head coach Gautam Gambhir, who had coached the pacer in IPL 2024 when they were both in Kolkata Knight Riders.
The former selector further remarked that there are at least three to four players who could have made way for Shreyas in the squad. Notably, the batter not only failed to make it to the squad, but also wasn't chosen in the 5-member reserve list as well. This came despite the 30-year-old having a stellar IPL 2025 campaign where he led a young Punjab Kings side all the way to the final.
“As always, it’s a very strong Indian team that will take the field at the Asia Cup. T20 is a format where India has done really well, and being the current world champions only adds to the confidence. The competition for places is so intense that any squad selection is bound to invite debate," Paranjape told IANS.
“For me, Shreyas Iyer’s exclusion stands out, I felt he should have been part of this squad, and there are at least three or four players who could have made way for him. I was also a bit surprised to see Harshit Rana in the mix. Clearly, he has the coach’s full backing, but I thought someone like Prasidh Krishna might have been a better pick," he added.
Rana hasn't played many T20Is for India
Meanwhile, Rana will have the responsibility of leading India's pace attack alongside the duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh. The 23-year-old has next to no experience of representing the Men in Blue in the shortest format as he has only played a single T20I match in his career so far. Though this will be a good learning experience for Rana, he will definitely be expected to step up his game and deliver for the side with the ball.
India's squad for Asia Cup 2025: Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Shubman Gill (vc), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson, Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh.