By India Blooms News Service Sep 05, 2023
Mumbai: Cricketer KL Rahul, whose fitness has been a concern for the past few months and who has yet to play a match for India since his injury during 2023 IPL, has made the cut into Team India for 2023 World Cup.
Whereas, Sanju Samson, who has been travelling with the squad as a backup for Rahul for Asia Cup, has been dropped, along with Prasidh Krishna and Tilak Varma.
Rahul is expected to join Team India ahead of the Super 4 game against Pakistan in the ongoing Asia Cup.
Yuzvendra Chahal, who was dropped from Asia Cup, also did not find his name in the World Cup squad.
For those who have missed out on the World Cup squad, Captain Rohit Sharma had a piece of advice asking them to cheer up and be optimistic as he had gone through such feelings in the past.
There will be players who have missed. But that happens every World Cup. There is going to be disappointment, but we can only get 15 in. The talent we have in India is hard ... I have gone through it, I know how it feels. You have to keep your chin up ... it was about how to create good balance, keep good all-round options ... this is the best 15 we could get, he said.
Kuldeep Yadav is the lone specialist spinner who will be supported by bowling-all rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel.
Worlds leading T20 batsman Suryakumar Yadav has been picked up, despite his performance in ODIs has been upto mark.
Shardul Thakur has been preferred for his batting abilities, which he showed during Test series Down Under a couple of years back.
Replying to a query on team balance, Rohit said, We have three all-rounders, 4 seamers, 7 batsmen. I dont think we could do more than that. Whatever we had available, we gave it a thought to come up with the squad, so that we get some batting depth, spinning options ... For us, this is the best combination.
Backing Rohits comments, Agarkar said, There are discussions because you want the best balance. Kuldeep takes the ball away from left-handers ... if you have quality bowlers, they will get to the opposition.
In the batting department, Rohit will be leading the pack along with Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rahul and Suryakumar, who are in Sri Lanka to play in the ongoing Asia Cup.
Rohit said India lacked batting depth as he hinted that No.8 and No.9 were not contributing with bat in crunch situations. We need to create both bowling and batting depth...that is what was lacking in our team for a few years. When you talk about batting depth, the No. 8 and No. 9 positions become very crucial.
We have spoken to the bowlers...how they need to put their hand up to do the job for the team with the bat as well....its just that you have to be mindful of what you do...I will try to use my resources the best I can, he said.
Team India for World Cup:
Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya (Vice Captain), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Mohammad Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav.