The BCCI on Monday announced the 15-member squad for this year’s Cricket World Cup, scheduled to be held in England and Wales. Rishabh Pant and Ambati Rayudu missed the cut, while Dinesh Karthik made a comeback in the squad after a gap of 12 years that will travel to England soon.
Pant has long been deemed as the heir apparent for Mahendra Singh Dhoni. His exclusion will no doubt come for intense scrutiny in the time to come.
What appears to have favoured Karthik’s chances over Pant was his international experience. Having played 91 ODIs, the BCCI selection panel felt that he will better in handling the pressure of the World Cup better than 21-year-old Pant. Notably, Karthik was also part of the Indian team during its disastrous 2007 World Cup campaign. He, however, missed the bus in the 2011 and the 2015 editions.
The five-member selection panel that announced the team was headed by MSK Prasad.
This year’s World Cup will be the fourth outing for Dhoni, who may announce his retirement from the 50-over format soon after the prestigious event. This will be the third World Cup for the Indian captain Virat Kohli, while Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be playing their second World Cup in 50-over format.
Here’s the complete team list:
Virat Kohli (Capt), Rohit Sharma (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar, M.S. Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd Shami