The preparation for the upcoming ODI World Cup has begun for every team. India is all set to host the 13th edition of the World Cup solely between October 5 and November 19. Ten venues have been shortlisted to host matches between the ten participating teams.
It will be a great chance for the Men in Blue to end the ICC trophy drought at home by winning the ODI World Cup. Notably, India won the last edition in 2011 under MS Dhoni, when they were the co-hosts. But for that, India needs to address the issue they are facing from top to bottom.
In the last few series, Indian captain Rohit Sharma opened the inning with Shubman Gill, and the result was also pretty good. Gill has been in the form of his life, especially in the white-ball format and scoring centuries. Meanwhile, it looked like India had sidelined Shikhar Dhawan.
Then, who will be India’s backup opener for the ODI World Cup? KL Rahul is recovering from his shoulder injury and is expected to make it into the squad for the World Cup. Or will India go back to Dhawan, who has an exceptional record in World Cup events?
However, former Indian opener Aakash Chopra revealed his team for the World Cup and named the third opener. In a Q&A session on his YouTube channel, he said that Gill and Rohit will open with Virat Kohli at No. 3. For the middle order, he chose Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, and Ravindra Jadeja, leaving out Suryakumar Yadav.
Rishabh Pant is out of action after his car accident and will not be available for the selection. For the bowling, he named Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, and Yuzi Chahal. However, he said that he can’t finalize his team because Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah are yet to recover.
For the backup opener, Aakash said, “I am not looking at Ishan Kishan at this point in time as a middle-order option. He could be a third-opening option as a keeper-batter. You need a left-hander, and he also has an ODI double hundred.”
