ICC World Cup: India's 15-Member Squad Finalised, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson, Prasidh Krishna Dropped: Report

The Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel reportedly finalised Team India’s 15-member squad for the upcoming ICC World Cup 2023. The deadline to submit the provisional squad for the marquee event is September 5 while the teams will be allowed to make changes to the team till September 28.

While announcing the 17-member squad for the ongoing Asia Cup last month, Agarkar had said that the selection committee will be picking the World Cup squad from the same squad. The former India cricketer had made it clear that the World Cup squad will not have any major surprise, thus ruling out the possibility of any new inclusion.

And the selection panel has reportedly done the same. According to a report in the Indian Express, the national selection committee had a meeting on Saturday (September 2) to finalise India’s 15-member World Cup squad. The selectors might have been waiting for the game between India and Pakistan to take place before finalising the World Cup squad.

India squad for ICC World Cup 2023:

According to the report, KL Rahul has been picked in the team while Sanju Samson has missed out. Sanju Samson had failed to make the cut for the Asia Cup and was only picked as a traveling reserve as Rahul was carrying a niggle.

Agarkar reportedly flew to Sri Lanka to meet captain Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid and take the final call on the squad. The meeting took place right after the India vs Pakistan game in Asia Cup 2023 ended prematurely due to rain.

Apart from Samson, Tilak Varma and Prasidh Krishna have also failed to make the cut for the World Cup despite being named in the Asia Cup squad. So, Samson, Varma and Krishna are the three players who have been dropped and the remaining 15 members will be representing India in the World Cup. Rohit Sharma will be leading the team.

Many were hoping that Yuzvendra Chahal or Ravichandran Ashwin might be picked in the World Cup squad but the selectors and the team-management have decided against it. Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel will take care of the spin department while Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Shardul Thakur will be the four pacers.

Hardik Pandya will be the allrounder while Rahul and Ishan Kishan will be the wicketkeeping options. In the batting department, Rohit Sharma Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli will take care of the top-order while Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav will be the middle-order options along with others.

India squad for World Cup 2023:

Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Axar Patel, Suryakumar Yadav