India announce 15-member squad for World Cup, KL Rahul in, Samson out
Indian captain Rohit Sharma and BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar announced the 15-member India squad for the ICC World Cup on Tuesday in Kandy.
The squad is almost the same as the 17-man Asia Cup squad, with Tilak Varma and Prasidh Krishna not making the cut.
India is going with four seamers– Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Siraj– while three spinners – Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav.
With Rahul in the squad, Sanju Samson misses out.
Rahul injured his thigh earlier in the year at the IPL and has been training at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru after recovering from the injury. The right-hander is likely join his Indian teammates during the latter stages of the Asia Cup.
Captain Rohit leads the batting group, with Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav all named, as well as Ishan Kishan who provides another keeping option. Vice-captain Hardik Pandya leads the all-rounders list which also has players like Jadeja, Axar and Shardul.
Bumrah spearheads the bowling group, and is likely to form a pace trio with Shami and Siraj.
The World Cup commences on 5 October. World Cup 2019 finalists England and New Zealand will clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad in the opening match. The event will culminate in the final at the same venue on 19 November.
India will start its campaign against Australia in Chennai on 8 October.
Ten teams will feature in the World Cup, which will be played across 10 venues. The event will feature 48 matches to be played across 46 days.
Other than Ahmedabad and Chennai, the cities of Bengaluru, Delhi, Dharamsala, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Pune will also host World Cup matches.
Eight teams have qualified for the 46-day event through the Cricket World Cup Super League while the final two spots were decided by the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe, where Sri Lanka and the Netherlands grabbed the two final spots.
The top four teams will qualify for the semifinals, to be played in Mumbai on 15 November and in Kolkata on 16 November. The final will be on 19 November in Ahmedabad. The semi-finals and the final will have reserve days.
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (vc), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj