The BCCI has recently announced the 15-member squad for the ICC Cricket World Cup, with Virat Kohli leading the side and Rohit Sharma named as the vice-captain. India will face South Africa in their first match, on the fifth of June.
India’s squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni (wicket-keeper), Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami.
Many were surprised with this team and some were disappointed, because of the exclusion of the 33-year-old Ambati Rayadu and the young and talented Rishab Pant. BCCI has announced that Vijay Shankar would become India’s number four for the World Cup.
He was picked over Rayadu since Shankar provides all three dimensions, in the form of batting, bowling and fielding. Later on, Rayadu tweeted saying “Just Ordered a new set of 3D glasses to watch the world cup”.
BCCI has told the media, that they have decided not to take any action regarding that tweet since he did it because he was emotional.
Four fast bowlers have been named to assist the Indian team for the World Cup preparations, they are Navdeep Saini, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed and Deepak Chahar. These players will help the batsmen to adapt to the pace and swing and prepare accordingly.
The five standby players for the World Cup include two batsmen, two fast bowlers and one spinner in the form of Ambati Rayadu, Rishab Pant, Navdeep Saini, Ishant Sharma and Axar Patel.
Except for Rayadu, all of them are having a good IPL currently. The board has taken five different players, as all of them are different in their own ways.
Ambati Rayadu is experienced and has won games for India before. Rishab Pant was taken because of his hard-hitting abilities.
Meanwhile, the two bowlers are also different in their own ways. Navdeep Saini can bowl really fast, and he touches the 150 mark consistently, but he lacks the experience which Ishant Sharma possess.
Since the World Cup is in England both these bowlers will be able to do well, if they get a chance. Axar Patel is selected as the lone backup spinner, in case any of the spinners get injured, but Axar has a much lesser possibility for a call up since chances of injuries for spinners is much lesser when compared with the fast bowlers or the batsmen.
Overall, India as a team is really strong. If they find the right combination and assess the conditions well, from the beginning, then India are surely the favourites to win the World Cup.
Jerin Varghese M
Roar Rookie
Virat Kohli is so consistent and he always rises up to the big occasions. So I believe that he will get a lot of runs this time and be the super athlete captain.
Hemant
Roar Rookie
as per the recent trends the super athlete captain has always played big innings in semifinals & finals of the previous world cups , can super athlete captain of Team India Virat Kohli make 150-180 runs in the semifinals & finals , for winning a world cup Team India should have a super athlete captain ! Sports is all about super athletes winning championship cups !
Jerin Varghese M
Roar Rookie
England is even one of my favorites along with India and Australia. WI will be a team to look into, as they are a team with many match winners.
Zavjalova
Roar Rookie
Eng to win WC. WI are my dark horse
Jerin Varghese M
Roar Rookie
Yes, you are right. That will be India's best possible starting lineup.
Tanmoy Kar
Guest
Indian Playing Xl would most likely be, Rohit, Dhawan, Kohli, Shankar, Kedar, Dhoni, Hardik, Chahal, Kuldeep, Shami and Bumrah.
Jerin Varghese M
Roar Rookie
Shankar was selected since he is an allrounder and if he fails to impress, India has Rahul and Karthik who are pure batsmen who can take over. They both have enough experience playing in the bigger stages. India has an experienced squad along with such young talents which will come in handy at some point in time. Even though there are some untested players, sometimes these players might be the key to winning the World Cup. We recently saw Australia's Ashton Turner win the series for them against India. He was untested and he showed he had the capability to finish off matches. At times, these young, untested players give there maximum and try to make an impression, which usually pays the dividend.
Jerin Varghese M
Roar Rookie
BCCI had announced only three reserves at the initial stage, which includes Rayadu, Pant and Saini. Recently, they decided to put two more reserves which include a pacer and a spinner in the form of Ishant and Axar. This is the reason, many websites have only put the three names which was announced first.
Jerin Varghese M
Roar Rookie
Yes, your right, India will not make many changes. Dhoni and Hardik have done extremely well in the IPL this year, which will give them a boost to perform well in the World Cup too. Saini has been impressive but unfortunately, he is not there in the 15 member squad of India. He will only be able to make it if, any pacers get injured. India is likely to go ahead with Shami over Bhuvi since he has been doing really well in the past few months. The way he bowled in the past two to three series for India has been impressive. Currently, in the IPL he is Punjab's strike bowler and seems like soon he will be India's too.
Jerin Varghese M
Roar Rookie
Thank you Paul, India's probable XI would be Rohit, Dhawan, Kohli, Shankar, Dhoni, Jadhav, Hardik, Chahal, Kuldeep, Shami and Bumrah. Vijay Shankar will come ahead of Karthik since he is an all-rounder and also Karthik's recent form has not been good. BCCI has also announced Shankar to be the number four and will surely try him in the first few games, but in case he fails Karthik or Rahul will replace him. India did not do well against Australia since they were trying out some new combinations. They also did not play two spinners together, which usually makes a great impact. Missing Dhoni in the last couple of matches and Hardik not playing the series also possed an issue. India has a really good squad, which has both the experience and young talents in it. They are surely one of the favourites alongside Australia and England. If India wants to win the World Cup their top three should fire mainly, they are the core of the team. Also, their spinners must do the trick in the middle overs, which they have done in the past. India's only concern is that some players recent performances in the IPL has not been up to the mark and everyone can hope they will get going at the bigger stage.
Kopa Shamsu
Guest
Hard to say "deep squad " when some of players remain untested. Vijay shankar to be one. Dk has not been in best of form either. I think this team lacks the situation awareness, readiness to tackle any situation under pressure mainly due to their spin duo bamboozling batsman on slow surface against S.A. or England. In last series they failed to chase modest score twice. I think if their spin duo is figured out ( like Aussies did) they are going to be in serious trouble. Another thing is their all rounder obsession they imported from Aussies. Shankar selection didn't make sense. They should have gone with another pure middle order batsman like rahane considering their struggle there.
dat
Roar Rookie
I would think, india's squad will remain unchanged, if all the regulars remain fit, till the start of the WC. There is a lack of capable finishers in the lower order, if dhoni and hardik are out of form.Outside that, things look pretty good. Ipl also show cased one of india's emerging talents in saini,who has been as quick if not quicker than bumrah ,and could add an extra dimension to the pace attack if either shami or bhuvi gets injured. My 11 would probably be Rohit,Dhawan,Virat,Shankar,Dhoni,Jadhav,Hardik,Bhuvi,Kuldeep,Chahal,Bumrah. If India picks Shami in the 11 over Bhuvi, it would likely also mean Jadeja getting in over chahal so that there is batting till no:8.
dat
Roar Rookie
Was it confirmed on any major news sites, about ishant’s and axar’s inclusions? I saw one of the smaller less reputed ones stating as such, yet neither cricinfo nor cricbuzz mentioning those 2,which i found strange.
Paul
Roar Guru
hi Jerin, thanks for this piece. I'm curious though who you would play in India's best XI? How do you rate India's chances and apart from adapting to conditions, what do they need to do to win the Cup, bearing in mind their recent underwhelming series versus Australia? I'm also wondering whether there's any room for change in this team? Other sides like England & Australia have named their likely squads, but in England's case, want to see what they do against Pakistan before finalising their 15.