This is the year of the ODI World Cup, and every cricket-playing nation is preparing itself for the biggest festival of cricket. This world cup will be held in India and being the host, it is necessary to analyze our squad for the world cup. This year’s world cup will be very important for the Indian cricket team, not only because it’s a world cup but also because it is probably their last chance to regain the support of fans which they’ve lost over the years. Indian fans have been waiting for an ICC trophy for about 10 years and when the team chokes in the semifinals and finals, it really disappoints them as for the past few years, we have arguably had the best squad in the world but still couldn't win any big tournament. This year we will have the advantage of playing on the home turf and in front of the home crowd which can be a real game changer for the players and the team. Now let’s talk about the Indian squad which has been announced recently for the upcoming world cup. Firstly, we have some obvious selections like our captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, and Jasprit Bumrah. These names were no surprise as you can't leave players like king Kohli, Hitman, Jaddu from the world cup as they are one of the best in their respective positions and have been in decent form as well (exception- Bumrah). Now come the players who we all were almost certain like Shubman Gill, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Shardul thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Kl Rahul, Shreyas Iyer. Apart from Shreyas and Rahul, all others’ names were almost confirmed in the squad and with Shreyas and Rahul becoming fit and available for the world cup, their names were predicted in the squad. Now comes the final part, the surprise elements in this squad like SKY, Axar Patel and Ishan Kishan. Well Ishan has already proved his abilities against Pakistan in Asia Cup and has shown his temperament, maturity, as well as adaptability and therefore deserves a place in the squad as a wicketkeeper batsman. SKY is an odd case as he has been in great form recently, but his ODI stats are very poor and just makes you question his selection in the squad but if we look at what other options we had, he’s probably the best choice. Axar Patel’s name surprises us the most, it’s clear that the selectors want him as the backup of Jadeja but still makes you think why not Chahal as he is one of the best spinners currently in India, though he is not as good as Axar when it comes to all-round ability but still on Indian conditions, leaving out Chahal can be a blunder from selectors’ side. Now let’s look at a few players who as fans we wanted to see in this squad, Shikhar Dhawan (Mr. ICC), Bhuvi (Swing King), Samson (a few more chances and he can definitely gain that confidence required for the world cup), Chahal.
If I were to rate this squad on paper I would give this a solid 9/10 as it looks like a pretty balanced squad but when you consider the current form of the players, my rating would probably be 6.5-7/10 as many main players like KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer and Jasprit Bumrah are just coming back from injuries and haven't played a lot of matches, which can be cause a bit of trouble in the world cup, also there are few youngsters as well in this squad and when it comes to high pressure games like world cup, experience has its own advantages.
Overall, it’s a pretty solid squad and if they play their cards right and with luck on their side, we can see Rohit Sharma lifting the World cup.
*This blog post was written before IND vs PAK match in Asia Cup Super 4 (10th September 2023), so there might be few points you might find conflicting.
*All views are my personal opinions, and you might not agree with me, but it is just what I personally think about this squad.
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