India go with Rahul, load squad with all-rounders

KL Rahul has been included in India's 15-man squad for the 2023 ODI World Cup, highlighting a brittleness in the squad. Rahul is expected to join the team in Sri Lanka after being cleared of an injury. Ishan Kishan retains his place as the second wicketkeeper. India's squad lacks an off-spinner, but the selectors believe they have the best balance with the players chosen. Teams can still make changes to their squads until September 28.

KL Rahul, who hasn’t played competitive cricket since May, was on Tuesday picked in India’s 15-man squad led by Rohit Sharma for the 2023 ODI World Cup — a decision that was along expected lines even as it highlighted a brittleness in the squad for a tournament India last won as host 12 years ago.

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India open their World Cup campaign on October 8 in Chennai, where they face Australia. Rahul, India’s first-choice wicketkeeper, is expected to join the team in Sri Lanka after being cleared of a niggle that forced him to miss the first two matches of the ongoing Asia Cup. Ishan Kishan — who scored a brave 82 against Pakistan on Saturday — retains his place as the second wicketkeeper, with chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar indicating that he will be in the fray even if Rahul is fit to play.

“There will be a conversation, but at least we have two options now who you can pick from,” said Agarkar at a press conference in Kandy on Tuesday. “We are happy to have two options who will fight for the place rather than the other way round.”

Among those who are in Sri Lanka, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson and Prasidh Krishna have missed the cut. Suryakumar Yadav keeps his place despite Varma’s recent good form. Three specialist fast bowlers have been picked in Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj, while Hardik Pandya — the vice-captain— and Shardul Thakur are the all-rounders.

Yuzvendra Chahal, who wasn’t considered for the Asia Cup, was expectedly left out of the squad, as were off-spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Washington Sundar. Kuldeep Yadav is the only wrist spinner in the squad, with Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel picked as left-arm slow bowling all-rounders.

Teams can still make changes to their squads till September 28, after which they need an approval from the International Cricket Council. This gives India the Asia Cup as well as three ODIs against Australia at home to sort out their batting issues, especially in the middle, once Rahul joins the squad on Tuesday.

It all seems very last-minute, the selectors admitted, but said they were hopeful of a positive outcome.

“We had a couple of fitness issues that we had to look at, but all three (Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah and Shreyas Iyer), who had long-term injuries have come through,” said Agarkar. “KL is looking good. We feel this gives us the best balance, the best chance to try and do well. With KL, he was part of the camp in Bangalore, he looked really good there, has got over his niggle. He played a couple of games over the last two days. I think he kept for 50 overs and batted for around 50 overs too, so he looks good and we’re happy to have him.”

Too much cover, no off-spinnerIndia’s cautious approach to batting is evident in the way they have insulated every first-team pick. Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul are the No 4 and No 5 but Suryakumar and Kishan are their covers, with the latter providing the flexibility of a makeshift opener in case Gill is injured or doesn’t deliver. And then, of course, there is the question of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, still India’s top players but no longer the batters they were during the 2019 edition of the tournament.

In the middle, Thakur is Pandya’s backup, and though chances of Jadeja and Patel playing together are slim, they have been named anyway.

That leaves India with another problem — only one specialist spin option in Kuldeep and two left-arm slow bowlers in Jadeja and Patel but no off-spinner, which could pose an issue against sides like England and Australia who have quite a few left-handed batters.

But India said they are thinking on different lines. “We need to create both batting and bowling depth. That is something we found was lacking in our team for the last few years. We just wanted to make sure we get that batting depth somehow. The No 8 and 9 become quite crucial,” said Sharma. “In the Asia Cup we saw how we fell a little short (against Pakistan). It can make a huge difference. We got 265, another 10-15 runs and things could have been different.”

Bowlers will be asked to prepare on contributing more with the bat but the onus will be on the lower-order spin all-rounders, he added. “Both Jadeja and Patel give us depth in batting,apart from their bowling. Kuldeep takes the ball away... In 50 overs cricket, perhaps you would ideally want an offspinner but this gives us the best balance. Seamers tend to bowl a lot more in ODIs as compared to T20 cricket, and perhaps you’re a little bit more under pressure if you don’t have an offie. I think at the moment we are quite happy with the bowlers we have.”

A lot will depend on the flexibility of Pandya’s role. He could bat at No 4 or 5 and can contribute at least six or seven overs on a good day. But the management must be wary about not pushing him too hard. Which is why Rohit indicated that on any given day, at least six bowlers will share the workload. “Hardik can bowl quick, can bowl the hard lengths. His form will be crucial for us,” said Rohit. “For a guy who bowls and bats, he is going to be very important. We have seen he has a very mature head on his shoulders. These are qualities of a good batter. He has come up very well in the last one and a half years.”

But, like Pandya’s bowling fitness, a lot is still up in the air for Team India as the tournament fast approaches.

Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (VC), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah