The administrative body of Indian cricket – BCCI announced a 15-man squad ahead of Asia Cup and ICC World Cup 2016 in Delhi, on Friday. Under the captainship of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India is scheduled to play in above mentioned tournaments starting from 24 February and 8 March, respectively.

Keeping in sight, his current form and pitch conditions at home , Ravichandran Ashton has been included in the Indian squad. In the recently concluded T20 series against Australia, Ashwin claimed 4 wickets in the three matches. His performance also may have also had some role in the selection. Despite his current positive form, the 29-year-old off-spinner showed some concerns ahead of Asia Cup. “Any time we play an Asia Cup, especially when we play Pakistan/ Bangladesh it’s pretty heated; because the last time we went to Bangladesh we lost,” said Ashwin.

Appreciating the Bangladeshi cricket team further, Ashwin added “They are a very good side, we can’t take them lightly.”

In their recent T20 clash against Zimbabwe, Bangladesh have won two matches out of four in the series at home.

The all-rounder from Tamil Nadu expressed confidence for the young talent in squad by saying “Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya did really well in Australia, we won the series because of them. This is pretty much an indication of how good they are.”

Complete Squad: MS Dhoni (C/WK), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Ashish Nehra, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami, Harbhajan Singh, Pawan Negi.

Akash Khanna | FYS