Gautam Gambhir, 2011 World Cup winner, unveiled his choice of Team India’s 15-member squad for the upcoming ICC World Cup 2023 on September 4, with a huge twist in his picks.
It is expected that the BCCI will announce India's 15-member squad for the 2023 World Cup on Tuesday (September 5) as the board is reportedly concerned about KL Rahul’s ability to keep wickets as he deals with a hamstring niggle.
However, many cricketing experts have already shared their choice of India World Cup squad and Gautam Gambhir joined the bandwagon with his squad, which he unveiled on Star Sports.
Gambhir picked regulars like Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, and Ishan Kishan in the batting order. He also named KL Rahul as wicketkeeper-batter in his squad, but as a huge surprise left Shreyas Iyer out and instead went for Suryakumar Yadav.
Suryakumar Yadav has struggled in the ODI format since his debut while Shreyas Iyer made his comeback to international cricket against Pakistan after undergoing back surgery in March this year.
While Suryakumar is expected to retain his spot, he might not be able to break into the playing XI in Iyer's presence.
Akshar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammad Shami, and Mohammed Siraj are among the confirmed selections in Gambhir's team.
However, for the fourth pacer, Gambhir went with Prasidh Krishna and then went on to pick Washington Sundar as the all-rounder over the medium-pace option of Shardul Thakur.
Sundar isn't in contention to be part of the ODI team. He has already been named in the squad for the Asian Games, where Ruturaj Gaikwad will lead a young team. Shardul Thakur is part of the Indian squad for the Asia Cup.
India will open their World Cup campaign against Australia on October 8. They will take on Afghanistan on October 11 before facing arch-rivals Pakistan on October 14.
Gautam Gambhir's squad for the World Cup:
Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Akshar Patel, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami
