India Cricket Squad For Asian Games 2023: RCB Pacer Akash Deep Replaces Injured Shivam Mavi In Men's Team

Royal Challengers Bangalore's Bengal pacer Akash Deep has replaced injured Shivam Mavi in a like-fo-like change in the India men's squad for the upcoming Asian Games 2023, which gets underway on September 28.

Earlier reports suggested that speedster Umran Malik will replace the injured Uttar Pradesh pacer, but the Indian cricket board announced in a statement on Saturday (September 16) that the Bengal pacer Akash Deep will be the replacement player.

The statement also added that Mavi, who made his Team India debut earlier this year, is suffering from a back injury and is ruled out of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou. In his 6 T20I appearances for India earlier this year, Mavi had claimed 7 wickets with a best of 4 for 22.

"Mavi is suffering from a back injury and is ruled out of the tournament. The men's cricket competition will take place from September 28 to October 8 in a T20 format," the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said in a statement.

Akash Deep, who has been a consistent performer for the Bengal side in the domestic circuit, made his IPL debut in 2022 with RCB, taking 6 wickets in his 7 appearances over two seasons for the franchise.

Now, the Bengal pacer earns his maiden call up to the national side. The 26-year-old right-arm pacer is set to link up with the Ruturaj Gaikwad-led side that featured with top performers in IPL and domestic cricket.

The men's cricket competition, which will be played in T20 format, will take place from September 28 to October 8 with the Indian team starting their campaign in the quarterfinal stage on October 3.

Indian cricket squad for Asia Games 2023

Ruturaj Gaikwad (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul Tripathi, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Shivam Mavi, Shivam Dube, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Akash Deep. Standby list of players: Yash Thakur, Sai Kishore, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Sai Sudarsan.