With the ICC World Cup in a week; what is India’s playing XI for the WC?

The series has also given us clarity on what the final squad for the World Cup will be and what changes can we see between the provisional squad and the final squad. Team India looks all ready in the third ODI against Australia after having already sealed the series 2-0 after a thundering victory in the second ODI by 99 runs after DLS reduced the target from 400 to 317. The third ODI also sees Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli return back into the fold after being rested for the first two ODIs along with some other players. Meanwhile, some of the players who played in the first 2 ODIs such as Shubhman Gill, R Ashwin and Mohd Shami will be rested to make sure that they are fresh for the World Cup and its warm-up games.

In the grand scheme of things, a win or loss in the third ODI won’t affect India as much but what it will help us in doing is that it will help us find the playing XI that we can see during the World Cup. While I agree, that a few key players with a guaranteed spot in the World Cup XI are not present tomorrow but this is a boon in disguise as it will help the management decide on which player is the next best alternative to whom. For example, in his current form, Surya can be the next best alternative to Kishan or even Iyer, given that KL Rahul will keep the wickets.

TFor example, R Ashwin who was out of the ODI format for almost 2 years came for the series and by far he has impressed the audiences along with the management and made a strong case for his inclusion to the World Cup squad by replacing the currently injured Axar Patel. After all Team India did desperately need a right arm off-spinner to partner with Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav.

It will be important to see what the starting XI against Australia will be as it will give us a glimpse of the XI during the World Cup. While we know that Rohit Sharma and Shubhman Gill will be the sureshot openers with KL Rahul as a backup opener in case either of them unfortunately gets injured. Meanwhile, India seems to have solved their number 4 question with the return of Shreyas Iyer who looks in sublime form. There is another player who can bat very well on number 4, i.e. Suryakumar Yadav. While Surya is not your conventional ODI player and doesn’t have any ground shattering stats to back him up but with his recent form in the Australia series where he has scored two back to back half centuries has helped him secure his place in the Indian squad. However, it does not seem that Surya will be a regular in the XI given that India does currently seem to have found a stable XI.

Moving on to the middle order, the absence of Rishabh Pant had raised a few questions over the position of the wicket keeper and over who will take up the role of the finisher. However, this question now seems to be solved with the return of KL Rahul back into the XI and establishment of Ishan Kishan as a keeper and finisher. While KL will have a confirmed spot in the XI, Kishan might not just get that privilege because in case India goes for 5 bowlers and 1 all-rounder depending on the pitch and the weather and circumstances of the match, India will only go for 5 batsmen which includes a wicket-keeper batsman. Following that will be Hardik Pandya who will definitely have a confirmed spot in the XI with being substituted by Shardul Thakur on a few occasions, however, I don’t see Hardik Pandya being rested a lot in the World Cup.

Moving on to the probable bowlers in the XI, honestly, I see India playing with 3 proper spinners and 2 pacers considering the behaviour of the Indian pitches and almost in a rarity where a pitch tends towards being green-ish pitch, India can go with 3 pacer and 2 spinners. But, the top 3 spinners and 3 pacers who will in all likeliness feature in the final squad for the World Cup will be Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and R Ashwin, who will most probably replace the injured Axar Patel for the World Cup given his experience and his expertise when it comes to reading the game and tricking the opposition by bowling multiple variations which he knows best. The top 3 pace options that India will use is very obviously Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd Siraj and Mohd Shami, all of whom have been in cracking form with Siraj and Shami both playing record breaking innings in the last 1-2 weeks.

With this, we now have a good enough idea of what the squad and the playing XI will be for the World Cup and following is what I think will be the

Possible XI for the World Cup: Rohit Sharma, Shubhman Gill. Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan/R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd Shami/Mohd Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav. 

Potential Final Squad for India in the World Cup: Rohit Sharma, Shubhman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Shardul Thakur, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj.

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