Asia Cup 2023: Sunil Gavaskar offers solution to save KL Rahul from injury but at cost of star India batter

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Batting great Sunil Gavaskar has made a massive prediction ahead of the India's upcoming Super Fours match against Pakistan in Asia Cup 2023 on September 10 in Colombo.

India announced their 15-member squad for the World Cup 2023 on Tuesday and picked both KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan in it. There were concerns over Rahul's injury but chief selector Ajit Agarkar revealed that the 31-year-old wicketkeeper-batter was over his niggle injury and was set to join India's Asia Cup squad in Sri Lanka.

KL Rahul missed the first two matches and continued rehabilitating at the NCA in Bengaluru. Agarkar said he has been declared fit after keeping for 50 overs in a couple of matches which also saw him bat for long durations.

The comeback of KL Rahul increases selection headache for the team due to Ishan Kishan's 82-run knock in a high-pressure game against Pakistan on September 2. Playing in eleven in the absence of Rahul, Kishan pounced on the opportunity and scored after India were reduced to 66/4 by Pakistan pacers.

In the match, Shreyas Iyer, who was making a comeback from injury after five months, got off to a brisk start before being dismissed by Haris Rauf for 14 off 9.

Gavaskar has now predicted that, the fight for a middle-order spot will be between KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer. He said Ishan Kishan should keep wickets to keep Rahul away from injury in case they both feature in the eleven.

Asia Cup 2023: Gavaskar's massive prediction in favour of Ishan Kishan - 'It's KL Rahul vs Shreyas Iyer now'

"It could be a fight between KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer in the Super Fours in the Asia Cup. With the kind of form that Ishan Kishan showcased against Pakistan... if both Rahul and Ishan play, it might be a good idea to let Ishan keep wickets because if Rahul has undergone recovery from an injury, then getting up and down might be a bit of an issue. It makes sense to have Ishan to keep wickets. It could actually be a fight between Shreyas and KL Rahul for the No. 4 and No. 5 positions," Gavaskar told India Today.

"He is a proven performer with the bat and when you have been a proven performer, you get a bit of leeway. That's exactly what has happened in this instance. It can be a bit of a worry that he hasn't played any cricket. Now, you are flying him to Sri Lanka, he will be able to play a few matches and then you see his fitness.

"You have 3 ODIs against Australia in the 3rd week of September. You can still have a replacement in the World Cup. There is a technical committee of the ICC that will assess the injury and decide whether there can be a replacement or not. I don't think there should be a problem with that," he added.

India Squad for World Cup 2023: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj