The much-awaited squad of India for Cricket World Cup 2023 was announced in a press conference by chief selector Ajit Agarkar and team captain Rohit Sharma. The team will be gearing up for the mega action at home that gets underway from October 5 onwards with India's first game being held against Australia on October 8. The squad features 15 members and no reserve players were announced by the duo.
Several big players are missing out on being part of the squad for the tournament. Captain Rohit Sharma also pointed out that it is not possible to pick everyone as only 15 slots are available. "We looked at all the ways to look at how to get the players in. There will be some missing out and that happens every time. We can fit only 15 players. We looked at how to create a good balance and this is the best we could get," Sharma on India's squad.
Seven big players to have missed out on being part of the squad:
1. Yuzvendra Chahal: One big omission from the squad is that of Yuzvendra Chahal. Sharma said that the think tank looked at all the ways of including the players in the squad. Chahal has not played an ODI since January 2023 and he has not had any game time in the 50-over format recently. Moreover, it is clear that Kuldeep Yadav has leapfrogged his friend based on his outings in 2023.
2. Sanju Samson: Sanju Samson also could not find a place in the 15-member team. He was with the Indian team for the series against West Indies and played two ODIs in the three-match series. However, with KL Rahul coming back and Ishan Kishan emerging as the lead candidate for a wicket-keeper's spot, Samson fell back from the pack and now misses out.
3. Shikhar Dhawan: India's man for big occasions Shikhar Dhawan will be missing the 2023 ODI World Cup after being part of the 2015 and 2019 editions. While announcing India's squad for the Asia Cup, Agarkar had stated that India are focusing on Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, and Ishan Kishan as the three openers of the team.
4. Tilak Varma: The young left-handed batter emerged as a candidate for the middle order in India's World Cup squad. He was surprisingly named in the Asia Cup team and there was a chance that he could have gone ahead of Suryakumar Yadav but that did not when the squad was named as Surya kept his place.
5. Prasidh Krishna: Pace bowler Prasidh Krishna also finds himself in the axed list. He was picked for the Ireland T20I series and made an impressive return along with Jasprit Bumrah. Krishna was also named in the team for the Asia Cup but lost a spot in a fight with probably Shardul Thakur.
6. Ravichandran Ashwin: There were some talks about having an off-spinner, especially Ravichandran Ashwin in the squad. But Ashwin recently made his thoughts clear on expectations of being in a World Cup squad. He pointed out that he does not have regrets to be not in the plans of a World Cup squad. Ashwin's last ODI match came in January 2022 when India faced South Africa.
7. Washington Sundar: Sundar is also an off-spinner and more than a handy batter. Even though remotely, there were few thoughts of whether India can include Sundar into the team. Sundar played for India in January 2023 in his last ODI game. He suffered a hamstring later and was ruled out of IPL 2023. Lack of game time and other options in the form of Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel might have gone against Sundar.
