The excitement for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 is increasing with every passing day. The quadrennial event will be held in India from October 5 to November 19.

With just over a month remaining for the World Cup, the experts have started picking their preferred squad and key players for the participating teams.

Former skipper Sourav Ganguly has also joined the bandwagon, picking Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill as India’s three key players for the showpiece tournament.

“Virat is playing very well. He has looked very good in the last few months and is batting extremely well and will be India’s go-to man along with Rohit Sharma. Rohit as captain is playing his first and last World Cup. I am speaking about the 50-over World Cup here which will come after 4 years. He could play T20 but this is a different format," Ganguly said on the Backstage With Boria show.

Rohit was the top run-getter in the 2019 edition of World Cup in England. The right-handed opener had amassed 648 runs from 9 innings at an average of 81 with five centuries, helping India reach the semi-finals of the marquee event.

"And he too has a superb record in world cups. 5 hundred in the last World Cup where he was brilliant. Finally, it is Shubman Gill who has that class to stand up and win matches for India. Each of them will have to stand up if India has to win the tournament,” Ganguly added.

India will begin their ODI World Cup campaign against five-time champions Australia at Chepauk on October 8. Before that, the Men in Blue will be put to the test in the Asia Cup 2023, which got underway on Wednesday (August 30).