'You will do injustice to whoever you make sit out' - Former opener on India's weakness ahead of Asia Cup 2025

Without any doubts, Team India has high chances to win the upcoming Asia Cup 2025, which is scheduled to start on September 9. India will start their campaign the following day. For every department, the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee placed multiple talents who can easily fit in the playing XI as well.

On pen and paper, the Men in Blue brigade look unstoppable. But as we know, every coin has two sides—nicely shaped Team India for the Asia Cup can have some setbacks. Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra critically analyzed the squad to find out the crack in the wall. For him, selecting the first XI can be the main issue team management may have to face, as there are too many eligible players to represent the team. Chopra started his discussion, focusing on the chances of Sanju Samson. As Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma are in the squad, Samson may have to play as a middle-order batter. But, as a middle-order batter, Samson's track record is not handsome. In that case, should the think tank drop him from the starting line-up?

"Is there any weakness? In my opinion, you will do an injustice to whoever you make sit out. That's the weakness. It doesn't sound very right, but it is what it is. If you make Sanju Samson sit out, you feel you are doing wrong, as you were making him open consistently and he was doing well. He scored three hundreds in 12 matches," Chopra opined in a video on his YouTube channel. 

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Rinku Singh or Axar Patel?

Like the top-order batting combination, team management has to solve another puzzle to settle the lower-order batting part. Should India play with a bowling all-rounder or with a pure batter like Rinku Singh to add extra firepower?

Raising the issue, Chopra said, "If you make Rinku Singh sit out, you will again feel you are doing wrong. If you are unable to fit in Kuldeep Yadav, it will be a problem. If you are unable to bat Axar Patel up the order, it will seem like you are doing an injustice. So, it's a tightrope to walk. Whatever you do, you can be criticized. That is not a weakness, but this is what it is."