Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra feels Team India’s youngsters’ preparation before they start their international careers is one of their biggest strengths heading into Asia Cup 2023. However, the selectors have picked a 17-member Indian squad, with Sanju Samson as an additional travelling reserve as well, for the mega tournament taking place in Pakistan and Sri Lanka from Wednesday, August 30.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said: “The young players come with potential and promise. It seems like they come prepared. There was a time when a new player came to play for India, he wasn’t ready and it used to take two-and-a-half to three years to prepare the kid and players used to get lost in between at times. However, since the advent of the IPL, you may look at some pitfalls but a huge advantage is that the players who come are absolutely fearless. Whether you see Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma or Shreyas Iyer – they are all ready. So I consider it as a strength that the youngsters are absolutely ready.”

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Meanwhile, Aakash Chopra also believes India’s excellent recent ODI form should also help them.

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“This team’s current form is very good. Whenever they play bilateral cricket, no one is able to stop them. You did drop a match recently (against the West Indies) but you generally don’t drop matches that easily. So the Indian team’s record has been very, very good. There is a lot of experience. If you see Rohit Sharma as a captain, you see him with a huge sample size. Then Virat Kohli comes at No. 3 and you say – ‘Wow’. Then Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami and Mohammed Siraj have also been playing for such a long time. You will not say Kuldeep Yadav is a rookie,” Aakash Chopra concluded.