India name predicted ODI World Cup squad, KL Rahul fit to keep wickets

India’s squad for the 2023 ODI World Cup is, as expected, a trimmed down version of the core group currently in Sri Lanka contesting the Asia Cup, where the BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar announced the 15-man roster on Tuesday.

September 5 was the deadline from the ICC to all the competing World Cup teams, and it was on that day that Agarkar, seated next to team captain Rohit Sharma, read out the squad. From the Asia Cup pool, the three names omitted are Sanju Samson, Prasidh Krishna and Tilak Varma, which leaves a predicted group of 15 for the home World Cup starting October 5.

The batting remains centered around Rohit, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan – the two wicketkeepers picked – and Suryakumar Yadav; the allrounders are Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur and Axar Patel; the pace quotient comprises Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami; and Kuldeep Yadav is the sole specialist spinner. All told, eight bowling options, two wicketkeepers and five specialist batsmen.

Good enough to win the World Cup? Time will tell, but on the basis of a chequered run in white-ball cricket since February, and now two successive Asia Cup matches in which familiar problems have arose, there is a lot lacking with this squad.

Rohit’s white-ball form leaves a lot to be desired. Since he hit 101 versus New Zealand in January, his ODI scores are 13, 30, 12*, 11 and 74* and he endured a very poor IPL season. Gill racked up 567 runs in six ODIs at the start of the year, but since then he’s managed 260 in eight, with his average boosted to 37.14 after an unbeaten 67* against Nepal. More worryingly, Gill’s apparent problems on two-paced surfaces, where the ball stops before hitting the bat, has amplified over the past few months.

Kohli’s last ODI knock of note came back in January, and since March he has batted in just one of three matches, making 4 versus Pakistan on Saturday. In that same match, Iyer marked his comeback from a back injury that had him out of cricket since March. Rahul has not played a match since the IPL and Bumrah’s last ODI was over a year ago. Kishan has four fifties in four consecutive ODI innings, so does he make way as soon as Rahul is fit to play? Suryakumar Yadav remains a non-performer after 26 ODIs, and the question has to be asked: can he deliver as a stand-in player if someone gets injured during the World Cup?

Axar offers a replica of what Jadeja does, which makes the absence of an offspinner option like Washington Sundar a sore point. Why there is no left-arm pacer – Arshdeep Singh remains relegated to the T20I format – is another puzzler. Can Shami stay fit through the World Cup?

Not since 2003 has any Indian cricket team gone into an ODI World Cup in as much disarray. Strange selections and ‘experiments’; untested players, out of form players, indifferent players; a coach and captain prone to banal statements after each match, with a seeming disregard to what the on-field tactics have shown. Problems against left-arm pace and a pace attack run ragged by Nepal.

Of course, India went into the 2015 World Cup after losing three matches in a row during a tri-series in Australia, and then stormed into the semi-finals. But that was a different team and a different time. As matters stand, it will take a lot for this squad to lift the World Cup for the first time since 2011. And for that, unfortunately, the team has itself to blame, largely, for not taking its ODI cricket seriously enough in the last 10 months.

In December, during the ODI series which his team lost in Bangladesh, Rohit said he was not thinking about the World Cup. This line was repeated during the home stint against Sri Lanka and New Zealand, by which time it was known that Rishabh Pant was out for a long time. After injuries to Iyer and Rahul, still there was no acceptance that major issues confronted this team. During the tour of the West Indies, the T20I captain Hardik Pandya boldly stated that Indian cricket could roll out three different teams on any given day. After the team lost the T20I series to West Indies, Dravid said it was not the time to talk about the Asia Cup. Before the Asia Cup, Dravid confounded people by saying he could have named India’s best team for the World Cup 18 months ago.

Hope is far from lost when it comes to the World Cup, but fans of the Indian cricket team must temper their expectations.

India’s World Cup squad: Rohit Sharma (capt), Hardik Pandya (v/c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan (wk), KL Rahul (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav