The 15-member Indian squad for the upcoming 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup was announced by team’s skipper, Rohit Sharma, at a press conference in Kandy, on Tuesday, 5 September. On expected lines, the team does not feature many tweaks from the squad that is currently in Sri Lanka, competing at the 2023 Asia Cup.
All fifteen players who will be seen competing for the title of world champions, are currently a part of the Indian 17-member Asia Cup squad. Prasidh Krishna and Tilak Varma, however, have been dropped from the team.
In the batting department, Shubman Gill is expected to retain his opening slot, partnering with his skipper, Sharma. Virat Kohli, and a fit-again Shreyas Iyer are likely to occupy the next two slots, whilst for the number five position, India have a couple of options in KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan.
Although he has not played any cricket since 1 May, KL Rahul is very close to making a full recovery, and is currently a part of the Asia Cup squad. He is expected to be India’s number one wicketkeeping option, albeit, Ishan Kishan has made a case for himself with four consecutive ODI half-centuries, the last of which came against Pakistan.
Tilak Varma, however, might consider himself a tad unfortunate, with the return of the experienced players effectively costing him his place in the team, after an excellent T20I campaign against West Indies.
Indian Squad for 2023 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup
Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami.
Considering India will be competing in many spin-friendly tracks, three spinners have been selected, in Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. Alongside the last two, Hardik Pandya forms India’s all-rounders’ assemblage.
As for India’s pace contingent, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami and Shardul Thakur have been picked. Prasidh Krishna, who had recently made an impressive comeback by picking four wickets in two T20I matches against Ireland, could not make the final cut.
We Have Selected the Best 15: Rohit Sharma
Speaking to be media about the selection of the squad, the Indian skipper said while it was certain that some renowned names will not be able to make it to the squad, he believes the best fifteen players have been picked.
"It is inevitable that some players will miss out on World Cup selection. With the wealth of talent available in India, narrowing it down to just 15 players is a challenging task. We believe we have selected the best possible squad of 15," said Sharma.
KL Rahul Should Be Ready: Ajit Agarkar
Amid questions aplenty on the selection of KL Rahul, who will be coming straight into international cricket's most prestigious competition with no competitive experience over the last four months, chairman of the selection committee, Ajit Agarkar said the wicketkeeper-batter will be prepared.
"Our focus is on selecting the 15 individuals who can successfully complete the task at hand. KL Rahul has played a couple of games over the last two days and kept wicket for whole 50 overs. KL Rahul has been a prolific run scorer at number five. He should be ready," Agarkar told the reporters.
Moreover, on being asked about the team's spin trio, Agarkar mentioned while it would have been ideal to select an off-spinner, the batting abilities of Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel will add to the overall balance of the squad.
"We ideally wanted an off-spinner, but this (picking Jadeja, Patel and Yadav) gives balance. We are quite happy with the bowlers we have," he said.
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