India pins hopes on its squad's new faces for ICC World Cup

After almost a year of debate on India’s best 15 for the ICC World Cup 2019, the national selectors finally announced the squad on Monday, April 15. The MSK Prasad-led selection committee listed the names of 15 cricketers who will represent India in the showpiece event, to be hosted in England and Wales from May 30. Of the names on the list, seven cricketers were part of India’s World Cup squad in 2015, while eight others will be making their maiden appearance in cricket’s biggest extravaganza.

The squad comprises five specialist batsmen, two wicket-keepers, three pacers, three all-rounders and two spinners. Of the three teams that have released their squads yet, only India is going in with two specialist spinners on pace-friendly English wickets. The reason for this could be the good performance from spinners in India’s Champions Trophy campaign in England in 2017. Similar conditions and weather from the Champions Trophy could boost Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal’s confidence.

The squad is slightly inexperienced as well. Vijay Shankar (9 matches) and KL Rahul (14 matches) are the least experienced, and would be hoping to not succumb to pressure of playing such a high-intensity tournament. Even Hardik Pandya’s 45 ODIs do not match the experience of other experienced campaigners in the contest.

Apart from the absence of a left-arm pacer, the bowling department appears competitive enough. Hardik Pandya has proven in the past that he can put breaks on the opposition in his 10 overs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah are exceptional in the death overs. Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja forced themselves into the squad after impressing in their recent international assignments. England may occasionally provide dry and slow tracks too, which Kuldeep and Chahal will love to exploit.

The 15-member squad

Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, KL Rahul, Dinesh Karthik.

Players who missed out

Rishabh Pant – one of the biggest talking points – has been the omission. The attacking wicket-keeper batsman has been was ignored for Dinesh Karthik. With 91 appearances in ODIs, Karthik brings experience with him to the table. But going by the current form, Pant’s exclusion has been criticised by many. As compared to Karthik’s 111 runs in the on-going IPL, Pant has 245 runs, and has also shown improvement in his wicket-keeping. Apart from experience, another factor that could have gone in favour of Karthik is that he is a good chaser. The Tamil Nadu batsman, during a chase, has 330 runs in 11 games since 2017. The first-choice wicketkeeper batsman, MS Dhoni, is likely to feature in all the games, but in case of any unexpected turn of events, Karthik will have to justify his inclusion.
“The situation that was discussed in the selection committee meeting is one of them [Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik] will play in the XI only if MS Dhoni is injured. Under such circumstances in a crunch match, who is the best guy who can handle the pressure? That’s is the reason that went in favour of Dinesh Karthik,” MSK Prasad reasoned.

Ambati Rayudu – until a few months ago, his spot in the World Cup squad for number 4 was certain. He even quit red-ball cricket to concentrate on only the limited-overs format. But India’s favouritism towards all-rounders – Ravindra Jadeja and Vijay Shankar, means no stamp of England on Rayudu’s passport. The experienced campaigner was the highest run-scorer for India in the five-match ODI series against New Zealand on the latter’s soil – 190 runs in 5 innings at an average of 63.33. That made for a strong case to pick him for the World Cup squad.

Players who made it as last-minutes entries

KL Rahul – KL Rahul, as aforementioned, does not bring much experience with him. But Test centuries in England and Australia, besides his raging form in the currently IPL, has probably worked in his favours. He 343 runs in 13 innings at an average of 34.3 and strike rate of 80.89 in ODIs. But in this year’s IPL, he is the second highest run-scorer with 335 runs in 8 innings at an average of 67 and strike rate of 130.85, which also includes his first ever IPL ton.

Mohammed Shami – Shami is the third pacer in the squad, and is likely to feature in the playing XI too. He was nowhere in the World Cup jigsaw until six months ago, but worked extremely hard on his fitness – one of the biggest concerns with him – and came back stronger with outstanding performances. The Bengal pacer has taken 10 wickets in eight matches this IPL for the Kings XI Punjab, which further justifies his selection.

India’s biggest strengths

MS Dhoni is central to Team India’s success in the quadrennial event. While Virat Kohli is the captain, it is well known that he consults Dhoni before every move that is made on the pitch. The three-time ICC trophy winning captain is in good form with the bat too, which will be a concern for any opponent.

Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan’s opening partnership – Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are one of the most successful opening partners in the history of cricket. They have constructed several long innings together, and both are good players of pace, which will augur well for the team on English soil.

Virat Kohli: the batting maestro, one of the best chasers in the world, and the current number one ODI batsman, Virat Kohli’s batting will be India’s biggest weapon in the tournament. With a good squad at his disposal, and MS Dhoni’s lending hand, Kohli will be hungry to lift his first ICC trophy as a captain.

Jasprit Bumrah: although this will be Bumrah’s first World Cup, he is India’s most prized asset in the bowling department. The World No. 1 ODI bowler, ever since his debut in early 2016, has been making the best of batsmen dance to his tunes with his Yorkers. The economy rate of 4 makes him the best death bowler in the world.

India’s predicted playing XI

Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal.

The national selectors have done their job, and it is now up to the 15 players to repeat history for the third time, after 1983 and 2011. For all that MS Dhoni has done for the country in the past 14 years, the rest of the boys need to ensure that the former captain, who is playing his last World Cup, returns home from England all smiles.