While the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 is slated to get underway on October 5 in Ahmedabad, host India will begin their campaign against five-time champions Australia at Chepauk on October 8.
After the triumphant Asia Cup 2023 campaign, India recently hosted Australia in a three-match ODI series and fine-tuned their World Cup preparations with a 2-1 victory.
On Thursday (September 28), India also finalized their 15-member World Cup squad, with a notable inclusion in it.
Veteran off-spinner R Ashwin replaced Akshar Patel in the side, after the latter failed to recover from his quadriceps injury that he sustained in the Asia Cup match against Bangladesh.
Amid the recent development, batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has named his India playing XI for their World Cup opener against Australia.
Gavaskar picked Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli for the top three slots while he preferred Shreyas Iyer over Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav in the middle-order. KL Rahul is the designated wicketkeeper-batter in his team.
In the bowling department, Gavaskar has gone with three premier fast bowlers in Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah and two spinners in Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav.
Gavaskar said Ashwin could be added to the XI if India decide to field three spinners as they have also got seam-bowling all-rounder Hardik Pandya in their ranks.
“You may pick three fast bowlers – Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah. If they want to go with two seamers since they already have Hardik Pandya then an extra spinner can be included. You can have Ashwin in the eleven,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports.
Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan, who was part of the same panel, agreed with Gavaskar’s top-seven but added that India must go with five proper bowlers since the dew factor will be an important factor.
“I agree with the top-seven. (But) I want the Indian team to go with proper five bowlers,” Pathan stated.
“You have Hardik as sixth bowler but you should go with bowlers having wicket-taking abilities. The pitches you will get now, there’s a possibility of dew so then you need to have a solid bowling throughout the World Cup.”
“So go with main bowlers be it three fast bowlers that include Siraj, Shami and Bumrah. If you want someone to team up with Kuldeep Yadav then go with a proper bowler in Jadeja if it’s on a turning track. Go with proper bowlers who only think about wickets. Your top-7 batters can take care of the runs,” he added.
Sunil Gavaskar’s India playing XI for Australia match: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah.
