Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir, on Monday, picked his 15-man squad for the upcoming ICC World Cup 2019.
The much-awaited World Cup is just a handful of months away. Hosts England will take on South Africa in the opener on May 30, 2019, at The Oval in London. The tournament will last for 45 days with 48 matches to be played. India will start their campaign against the Proteas on June 5. The format for the 2019 edition will see 10 best teams in the world going head-to-head in a round-robin format. The tournament will culminate with the fifth final at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground on July 14.
And with not much time left before the showpiece event gets underway, Gautam Gambhir revealed his Indian squad. The former opener, who had top-scored for India in the monumental 2011 World Cup final, did not spring too many surprises. With the likes of wicketkeepers MS Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik in the team, Gambhir omitted Rishabh Pant from his predicted list.
However, he surprisingly picked off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin ahead of Ravindra Jadeja. Ashwin has fallen down the pecking order in ODIs with his last appearance coming in 2017. On the other hand, Jadeja has been a regular in the ODI team in recent times.
The team also features cricketers Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul. Both the players recently returned to action after the lift of suspension which was imposed in the wake of their controversial remarks at a popular talk show. While Pandya has joined the ODI team in New Zealand, Rahul has joined India A for the ongoing series against England Lions.
Gambhir’s Indian squad for World Cup 2019:
Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav.