On Tuesday, the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee announced a 15-member Indian squad that will take part in the coming ODI World Cup in India. The announced squad saw similar names that are playing in the ongoing Asia Cup 2023. KL Rahul is fit and is part of the team. But there are some players who were not lucky enough.
Sanju Samson, who is part of the reserves for the Asia Cup, was dropped. Tilak Varma and Prasidh Krishna are the other two players who were dropped from the World Cup squad. But there are three lucky Indian players who were able to retain their places despite not playing much.
3 Lucky Indian players who don’t deserve, but are part of the World Cup 2023 Squad
1. Shardul Thakur
The pitches in India help the spinners, which is a universal trust, and India has picked three spinners in the squad. Apart from that, it is unlikely that India will go with four pacers despite having Hardik Pandya in the team. The usual bowling combination will be three pacers and two spinners. With Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, and Mohammed Siraj in the team, we might not see Shardul Thakur getting many games. But despite that, he is in the squad mostly because he can bat a bit. However, Prasidh Krishna, who was a better bowler, has been dropped.
2. Axar Patel
Axar Patel has been part of the Indian team across formats but hasn’t gotten many chances in recent times. It is because of Ravindra Jadeja. Both Jadeja and Axar bring similar skillsets to the table in all three departments. Though Jadeja has proven himself in numerous games, And it is pretty difficult to take both of these players into the XI. That is why we might see Axar only warming the bench. Instead of him, India could have gone for Yuzi Chahal or Ravi Ashwin, who are specialist spinners.
3. Suryakumar Yadav
Team India dropping Sanju Samson, who has an average of 55.71, and picking Suryakumar Yadav, with a batting average of 24.33 in ODIs, is not digestible for some former cricketers and fans. SKY has been given consistent chances and has failed every time in 50-over cricket. Despite that, he is on the team. And one can fairly say that he is pretty lucky to feature in the World Cup squad for India.
