India’s Squad For Cricket World Cup 2023: KL Rahul Included, Tilak Varma And Sanju Samson Out | Cricket Information

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced a 15-member squad for the ODI World Cup 2023. The Board made a bold call in giving wicket-keeper batter KL Rahul the nod despite the fact that he didn’t feature in the first two matches of Asia Cup 2023 due to injury. Tilak Varma, who was selected in India’s 17-member team for the Asia Cup, didn’t find a place in the 15-man World Cup squad while Sanju Samson was left out too. Prasidh Krishna, who made his return to the ODI side after a long injury layoff, wasn’t picked by the selectors either but ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah was roped in.

There were no surprises in the team selection after chief selector Ajit Agarkar had suggested that the World Cup squad will be picked from the 18-member Asia Cup squad (including the reserve Samson).

During the press conference for Asia Cup squad selection, Agarkar had said that KL Rahul picked up a niggle, prompting the selectors to include Sanju Samson as as a back-up option.

Here’s the #TeamIndia squad for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 #CWC23 pic.twitter.com/EX7Njg2Tcv

— BCCI (@BCCI) September 5, 2023

“Shreyas is being declared completely fit while KL Rahul has picked up a niggle. It is not his original injury and that’s why Sanju is travelling with us. We are all expecting him to be fit, if not at the start of the Asia Cup but maybe the second and third game but he is well on track. They are two important players and since we are not picking the team for the World Cup teams till September 5, it gives us some time,” Agarkar had said.

With Rahul now declared fully fit, he was picked for the World Cup squad. The wicket-keeper batter is also expected to fly to Sri Lanka and remain available for selection for India’s Asia Cup Super 4 matches.

India’s squad for Cricket World Cup 2023: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj.