On Tuesday in Kandy, Indian captain Rohit Sharma and BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar unveiled the 15-person squad for the ICC men’s Cricket World Cup. Tilak Varma and Prasidh Krishna are not included in the team, but the roster is nearly identical to that for the Asia Cup.
India is going with four seamers Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, and Mohammed Siraj while three spinners Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav.
Rahul injured his thigh earlier in the year at the IPL, though has been training at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, and will likely join his India teammates during the latter stages of the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka. With Rahul in the squad, Sanju Samson has missed out, as well as Tilak Varma and Prasidh Krishna as other omissions.
Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, and Ishan Kishan are all included in the batting group, which is led by captain Rohit Sharma. Ishan Kishan offers a second keeping option. In order to provide more batting options, all-rounders Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, and Shardul Thakur have also been named. Jasprit Bumrah leads the bowling unit after returning without any signs of an injury, with Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj most likely making up the first-choice pace unit. The team’s top spin option is Kuldeep Yadav.
The World Cup begins on October 5 with a match between 2019 finalists England and New Zealand at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium, and it concludes on November 19 with the championship match there. On October 8, India will face Australia in Chennai to open its season. The Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad will host both the tournament’s opening game and the championship match of the largest Cricket World Cup ever, which will feature ten teams and be played at ten different locations from October 5 to November 19. 48 matches total will be played during the 46-day event.
