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Sourav Ganguly picks India's World Cup squad, makes 2 telling changes from Asia Cup team
Ahead of the much-awaited announcement, former BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly has already picked his 15 for the World Cup at home, which begins from October onwards.
Despite having only a few days in hand, the BCCI selection committee, headed by Ajit Agarkar, is willing to wait probably until the final day, September 5, to hand over India's preliminary squad for the ODI World Cup. However, Agarkar did admit that the squad would look largely similar to the 17-member team, along with a reserve in Sanju Samson, named for the impending Asia Cup, which begins on August 30. But ahead of the much-awaited announcement, former BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly has already picked his 15 for the World Cup at home, which begins on October 5.
Compared to the Asia Cup squad announced, Ganguly made two notable changes in his eventual World Cup squad. The former India captain dropped young Tilak Varma, who only earned his maiden ODI call-up in the squad for Asia Cup, having impressed the selectors with his stunning show in a five-match T20I series against the West Indies. Ganguly also dropped a returning Prasidh Krishna, who made a comeback in the Ireland T20I series after staying out of action for months owing to an injury.
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Sourav Ganguly's 15-member India squad for ODI World Cup:
Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan (wk), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur.
The former India opener however did pick three back-ups for his squad with Yuzvendra Chahal part of it. The spinner has been the cynosure of the Asia Cup announcement after having failed to make the squad as the selectors could squeeze in only one spinner in Kuldeep Yadav.
“If one of the middle-order batters gets unfit, then Tilak Varma. One of the pacers gets unfit then Prasidh Krishna and Yuzvendra Chahal for spinners,” Ganguly added.
India, like all teams participating in the World Cup, will have to submit their provisional World Cup squad by September 5, as per the guidelines of the tournament. Only Australia have made the announcement so far. All teams will however have the chance to make as many changes in the initial squad as possible before they submit their final list by September 27.
The ODI World Cup begins from October 5 onwards at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad with defending champions England taking on New Zealand in a repeat of the 2019 final. India have their first match against five-time winners Australia on October 8 in Chennai
