The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) which is India’s cricketing body has recently introduced a 15 man squad for the ICC World Cup 2019 which will be organised in England and Wales from 30th May till the middle of July.
The ICC Squad is led by none other than Virat Kohli who will be leading the team and MS Dhoni will be keeping wickets as usual. While, Dinesh Karthik has taken the second spot for the wicketkeeper and unfortunately, Rishabh Pant hasn’t made to the list this time.
The BCCI has selected batsmen KL Rahul who is selected on the basis of some of his good domestic and international performances.
Though, Shankar’s inclusion is still surprising to most of us. Most of them were expecting Rishabh Pant to be selected in the final list, chief selector MSK Prasad has defended the decision by saying “Definitely a case where we debated in length. We all were in unison that either Pant or DK will come in only when Mahi is injured.
Indian Cricket Team for World Cup 2019:
#TeamIndia for @ICC #CWC19 ??#MenInBlue ? pic.twitter.com/rsz44vHpge
— BCCI (@BCCI) April 15, 2019
In an important game, wicket keeping is also important. That’s the reason we went with Dinesh Kartik”.
The chief selector, MSK Prasad has further added that KL Rahul will be the reserve opener and will play in the middle order depending on what the team management deems fit to be.
There was some confusion going on between the board for making the final selection of batting spot. Now they have selected Vijay Shankar for this role.
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Snapshot from the Selection Committee Meeting that took place at the BCCI Headquarters in Mumbai today. pic.twitter.com/AD893ctuBN
— BCCI (@BCCI) April 15, 2019
They have told that they have tried on a few people at No. 4, we gave some chances to Rayudu also but what Vijay Shankar brings is three-dimensional. We are expecting him to see at no. 4 to begin with, told by MSK Prasad at the time of press briefing.
India will begin with its World Cup 2019 campaign on June 6, 2019, where they will be playing against South Africa at The Rose Bowl in Southampton.
While India VS Pakistan encounter is scheduled for June 16 at the Old Trafford in Manchester.
Have a look at Full Squad: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami.