No Tilak Varma, One Surprise Inclusion as Sanjay Bangar Picks His India Squad For ODI World Cup

Sanjay Bangar has picked his India squad for the upcoming ODI World Cup as he left out a couple of players who are part of the Asia Cup squad. The BCCI have picked a 17-member squad for the continental tournament but they have to trim it to 15 for the ODI World Cup. It is highly likely that the selection committee will pick the team from the Asia Cup squad only. However, former batting coach Bangar has picked Arshdeep Singh over Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna in his World Cup team.

Arshdeep, who has played three ODIs for India, failed to make the cut for the Asia Cup as the selectors went ahead with bowling all-rounder Shardul and tearaway pacer Krishna. Interestingly, India didn’t pick any left-arm pacer in the Asia Cup team.

Bangar chose his squad where five batters excluding the two wicketkeepers find places. While he chose four pace bowlers in the squad apart from the fast-bowling all-rounders. He also excluded Yuzvendra Chahal from the squad to accommodate three spinners.

“For the World Cup, the way I have chosen my squad is focused on combinations. The combination will be as follows: five specialist batsmen, two wicketkeeper-batsmen, two spin-bowling all-rounders, one pace-bowling all-rounder, one specialist spinner, and four fast bowlers,” Bangar said on Star Sports.

Bangar revealed his 15-member squad where he omitted Tilak Varma, Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna from his team.

“The five specialist batsmen will be Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, and Suryakumar Yadav. The two wicketkeeper-batsmen would be Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul. The two spin-bowling all-rounders, both I have chosen from the left-arm category, would be Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. The pace-bowling all-rounder would be Hardik Pandya. One specialist spinner – Kuldeep Yadav. And the four fast bowlers would be Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammad Shami, and Arshdeep Singh,” he added.

The deadline to announce the World Cup squad is September 5 as the selection committee will take the call after the Group Stage matches in the Asia Cup.

Sanjay Bangar’s India Squad For World Cup: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar PateJ Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammad Shami, and Arshdeep Singh.