ICC World Cup Team India Selected Players List Announced, Highlights: Shankar, Jadeja included, Karthik picked over Pant

That brings us to the end of our coverage of the India World Cup squad announcement, with the MSK Prasad-led selection panel announcing a 15-man contingent that largely met everyone’s expectations. There were a couple of tussles over spots, the most prominent one being that between Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant as MS Dhoni’s back-up — the former getting the nod in this case. Meanwhile, Vijay Shankar has been backed by the selection panel as their pick for the contentious No 4 slot, one that had generated a lot of debate over the last few months. 

Time for us to shift our attention back to the Indian Premier League, with Mumbai Indians (MI) set to host Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the Wankhede Stadium later this evening. We have a little under a month left in the 2019 edition of the IPL before we set our sights on arguably the most coveted prize in international cricket.

ICYMI

New Zealand were the first side to announce their squad for the 2019 World Cup, including Tom Blundell in their 15-man Kane Williamson-led contingent. Check out the full squad **here** .

Justified exclusion?

This season in IPL, Rishabh Pant scores at 11.36rpo after facing 10 balls; only De Villiers, Russell and Pollard can better that. India have a squad full of stars and match-winners, but Pant's power-hitting is unmatched by many around the world, let alone just in India. #CWC2019

— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) April 15, 2019

The bowling department is one the selectors would’ve hardly thought much over. 

The bowling picked itself. There will be days when India will consider playing all 3 seamers but I suspect that most days it will be 2 pacers and 2 wrist spinners so 3 + Pandya seems right. Both Vijay Shankar and Jadhav have to make the side as batsmen with bowling just a bonus

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 15, 2019

There are two areas that India will hope will not bug the team during the World Cup campaign. The first is the relative inexperience middle-order batting and that can be handled by spreading the available experience. The easiest solution would be to have skipper Virat Kohli drop down to No. 4 and let KL Rahul bat at one-drop. Vijay Shankar could be sandwiched between Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Hardik Pandya to ensure that those with fewer than 20 games bat alongside the more experienced hands.

The other facet that is quite stark is that the team has just three specialist fastmedium bowlers in Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah. Hardik Pandya has given the team management and the selectors confidence that he can deliver 10 overs of quality and pick up wickets as well. India will have to keep a couple of fastmedium bowlers in a state of preparedness either at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru or, better still, in England.

Rishabh Pant will feel gutted to have missed out on his maiden World Cup appearance… 

Heartbreak for Pant. Karthik gets nod because of better keeping skills, just in case MSD is injured before a crucial match

— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) April 15, 2019

IPL form not taken into consideration!

“If you really go by IPL form, there are other names such as Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw who have been doing well. So we didn’t consider IPL form,” says chief selector MSK Prasad

Khaleel and Chahar had been on the selectors’ minds

“We’ve covered all the bases, and this is one of the most balanced sides we have produced. We had discussed Khaleel and Saini, and they will be around. We’ve been planning. Let me frankly tell that in the last month or so, there were a couple of places which cropped up. We do have reserves,” says chief selector MSK Prasad in the press conference.

So Rishab Pant does not make the cut. Vijay Shankar has been slotted in that position which called for a batsman who could strike hard. He could also bowl a bit if conditions were ideal. Jadeja is chosen for the second half of the tournament when pitches would be drier.

Kedar Jadav is also chosen as batsman who could bowl a bit, if needed. Thus it looks like selectors have gone for extra players who could chip in usefully in their non-core areas. So Vijay Shankar and Kedar are batsmen who can bowl and Jadeja is a bowler who can bat.

While Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) all-rounder Vijay Shankar doesn’t make it to Sanjay Manjrekar’s XI, Irfan Pathan does include him in his side. 

1) Cap Virat 2) Rohit 3) Shikhar 4) vijay 5) Dhoni 6) Kedar 7) Hardik 8) Kuldeep 9) Chahal 10) Shami 11) Bumrah 12) Bhuvi 13) Rahul 14) Rayudu 15) Jadeja
My World Cup team...

— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) April 15, 2019

More squad picks coming in on Twitter, this one from cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar. “Changed my mind on Shankar,” says the former batsman. 

My Indian WC XI.
Rohit
Shikhar
Virat
Rayudu
Kedar
Hardik
Dhoni
Kuldeep
Shami
Chahal
Bumrah

Jadeja
Rahul
Pant
Bhuvi.

Note: Changed my mind on Shankar.

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) April 15, 2019

The big day is here! India’s squad for the World Cup 2019 will be announced today. Meanwhile, the meeting of selectors is underway in Mumbai. 

Will Ambati Rayudu continue to be India’s No 4 choice or Vijay Shankar will get that spot? Will Ravindra Jadeja go to England in place of the fourth seamer? Will Rishabh Pant or Dinesh Karthik be included as second choice wicket-keeper? The selectors will be faced with many such questions as they finalise the squad.

India’s ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 squad announcement

Hello and welcome to Firstpost’s live coverage of India’s squad announcement for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. The selectors meet today in Mumbai to pick the squad and the announcement is expected to be made at 3.30 pm.