The Indian cricket team squad for the ICC Woldcup 2019 has been announced, and while Rishabh Pant and Ambati Rayudu are not a part of India's squad for the World Cup, players like KL Rahul, Dinesh Karthik, Vijay Shankar and Ravindra Jadeja have made it to the 15 member squad. The MSK Prasad lead selection panel and Indian Skipper Virat Kohli had met at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai today prior to the announcement of the team heading to UK for the World Cup.
Almost all the slots in the team were known already while there were lot of confusions after trying out various combinations at No. 4 in the batting orderand among the top contenders for the slot were Ambati Rayudu and Rishabh Pant though it was Dinesh Karthik and KL Rahul who made it to the team as reserve opening batsman and a choice for No 4. MSK Prasad said that post Champions trophy the team had tried many choices including Dinesh Karthik, Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey and chances were given to Rayudu as well but Vijay Shankar offers three dimensions as he's someone who can bowl and can be a fantastic fielder apart from being a batsman, which favored him for No 4.
MSK Prasad added that Dinesh Karthik was chosen ahead of Pant as he can perform under pressure and can play if Dhoni is injured, adding that though Pant is talented, he has a lot of time and DK has been preferred for his ability to finish in pressure situations. Jadeja comes as an addition to regular limited-overs spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, which means the squad has three pace bowlers in Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, and Vijay Shankar and Hardik Pandya being the all round seam bowling options. Prasad added that four other seamers will travel with the squad, and Khaleel Ahmed and Navdeep Saini's names were discussed, and in case of a need, one of them can be picked.