An impressive 15-member team for the next ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, which will be hosted in India, was unveiled at a press conference on Tuesday with the participation of Indian captain Rohit Sharma and BCCI Chairman of Selector, Ajit Agarkar. KL Rahul unexpectedly joined the team, but Tilak Varma and Prasidh Krishna were left off the Indian starting lineup.
In contrast, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, and Shardul Thakur are all expected to go to the final 15. The main Indian players Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, and Kuldeep Yadav have chosen themselves.
However, Rohit has already gone through this stage once before, 12 years ago, when India last hosted the Cricket World Cup at home. He then vented his frustration on social media over not receiving the selection call at that time. The same thing has now occurred with players like Yuzvendra Chahal, Sanju Samson, Shikhar Dhawan, and a few more.
When the roster was announced, all 15 players were chosen without any surprise calls. Prasidh Krishna and Tilak Varma were left off of the Asia Cup roster.
KL Rahul, who hasn’t participated in an official match since suffering an injury in the IPL, was selected for the World Cup team despite skipping the Asia Cup 2023 group stage match. Ishan Kishan has been designated as the alternate keeper-batter in the meantime.
It’s interesting to note that the selection committee once again passed over Yuzvendra Chahal, who was previously left out of India’s touring group for the Asia Cup 2023. Instead, Axar Patel, Kuldeep, and Jadeja were chosen as the three specialist spinners.
Sanju Samson has not been selected for the World Cup despite taking advantage of his few opportunities in the ODI format, as Suryakumar Yadav was chosen over the wicketkeeper-batter.
India’s World Cup 2023 squad
Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah.