India announce 2019 World Cup squad
World Cup India squad 2019 Announced: The Board of Cricket for Control in India (BCCI) announced India's 15-member squad for the 2019 ICC World Cup which will be led by captain Virat Kohli. Surprisingly, there is no place for Ambati Rayudu and batsman wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant as Dinesh Karthik, KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar and Ravindra Jadeja come in.
India's Chairman of selectors MSK Prasad along with BCCI's acting President Amitabh Chaudhary announced India's 15-member squad in a press conference in Mumbai on Monday.
The 33-year-old Karthik got the nod ahead of the 21-year-old Pant despite an indifferent IPL campaign with the Kolkata Knight Riders.
"The second wicketkeeper comes into play only if Mahi (Mahendra Singh Dhoni) is injured. We went ahead with Karthik because of his experience in big matches," Prasad said while announcing the squad here.
The side, expectedly led by Virat Kohli, comprises five specialist batsmen, two wicketkeepers, three fast bowlers, three all-rounders and two specialist spinners.
Speaking on Ambati Rayudu's exclusion from the World Cup squad, Prasad said Shankar is more 'three dimensional'.
"After the Champions Trophy (2017), we tried quite a few people in that position. We did give a few more chances to Rayudu. Vijay Shankar is three dimensional. We are looking at him at no. 4 to begin with. We also have Dinesh Karthik and Kedar Jadhav. It's not that anything that went against (Rayudu), it's that a few things went for (Vijay Shankar)."
India 15-member World Cup Squad: Virat Kohli (Capt), Rohit Sharma (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar, MSD (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd Shami
