ICC World Cup 2023: Four Years After Not Picking India Star For World Cup, MSK Prasad Includes Him In His 15-Member Squad

The highly-anticipated ICC World Cup 2023 is just over a month away. The thirteenth edition of the ODI World Cup is scheduled to get underway on October 5 with a mouthwatering clash between reigning champions England and New Zealand at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. And ahead of the competition, former India wicketkeeper and chief selector MSK Prasad has revealed his preferred India squad.

The deadline to submit the provisional World Cup squad is September 5. So far, only England and Australia have announced their preliminary squads for the marquee event. As far as India are concerned, they are likely to announce the squad at the very last moment.

Current chief selector Ajit Agarkar has already given a big hint on how India’s World Cup squad will look like. While announcing the 17-member squad for the Asia Cup 2023 earlier this week, Agarkar had said that the World Cup squad will be similar to the squad that was announced for the continental championship.

“Fifth is the deadline, and we’ll get to look at the players as a short camp, followed by a couple of games before we announce the actual squad. But, uh, yeah, it will obviously be around these guys on it,” said Agarkar.

MSK Prasad’s India squad for World Cup:

While Agarkar has made it clear that India’s World Cup squad will not have too many surprises, MSK Prasad has sprung a surprise in his squad. One of the biggest surprises in his squad is the inclusion of veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. The off-spinner has fallen down the pecking order in the ODI team and has played just 13 ODIs since the beginning of 2016.

Interestingly, MSK Prasad had not picked the spinner in the India squad for the 2019 World Cup when he was the chief selector. Speaking on Star Sports, the former India wicketkeeper also said that he would pick one of the two wrist spinners between Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. There is also no place for Tilak Varma in the squad while Suryakumar Yadav has made it to the team.

Former selector’s insight! ?

MSK Prasad unveils his handpicked 15-man squad for the 2023 ODI Cricket World Cup. ??

Tune-in to the #WorldCupOnStar
October 5, 2 PM onwards | Star Sports Network & Disney+ Hotstar#Cricket pic.twitter.com/vRkqD3lOBO

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) August 25, 2023

MSK Prasad’s India squad for World Cup 2023: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal/ Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Ishan Kishan