Revealed: Virat Kohli's 15-Man World Cup Squad
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The ICC Cricket World Cup is knocking the doors and all the teams are about to pick their squads in the coming week. Though many teams have listed their probable squad for the World Cup, some teams like India will release the squad details directly without any probable list. The selection committee is probably keeping an eye on the IPL to finalise their full team. However, Virat Kohli has said that the IPL performance will have no bearing on the squad, and the team will be picked only by assessing the performances in the last couple of years. Virat Kohli will meet the selectors on April 15 to take a final call on the members who will be taking the flight to England.
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During the T20 Series against Australia, he asked his players not to deviate from their natural game and not inculcate ‘bad habits’ during the IPL. The India skipper wanted his players to concentrate on playing good cricket rather than focussing on short term success.
“All the people who are going to be part of the World Cup squad, they have to make sure that their games don’t go too much away from the one-day mould of things. That means we will have to be very wary of the bad habits that might creep in during the IPL”, Kohli had said before the Visakhapatnam T20 against Australia.
By this, one can more or less figure out the players who will be getting a call for the ultimate event this May.
India will be playing with Rohit Shama and Shikhar Dhawan as the openers while KL Rahul looks destined to be the backup opener. Skipper Kohli will come in at third without any doubt. The quest for the fourth spot will still be there as India is uncertain of the perfect player for this place. Vijay Shankar might get the nod ahead of Ambati Rayudu and Rishabh Pant as he is in good touch since the start of the year. In case Vijay Shankar fails to make the cut, the experienced Dinesh Karthik could make it to the squad. Rishabh Pant looks set to be the backup wicketkeeper or the team can also play him as a specialist batsman,
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At number five, MS Dhoni will follow with his immense experience and his partner during the middle overs will be Kedar Jadhav. Jadhav’s spin bowling will also add a feature in the bowling department. The number seven spot is fixed for Hardik Pandya after the all-rounder made a comeback with some eye-catching finishes for the Mumbai Indians. The spin department will be covered by the duo of Kuldeep and Chahal who have an excellent last two years in the international circuit.
Finally, the pace bowling will be led by Jasprit Bumrah and it will interesting to see whether Bhuvneshwar Kumar or Mohammed Shami gets the final place. Shami had impressed many with his bowling in all the three formats of the game recently but Bhuvneshwar’s swing will be handy in the typical English conditions. Pandya can also play the role of the fourth pacer while Shankar is also more than capable of bowling some quality medium pace.
So here is the probable squad if it is chosen on the basis of Kohli’s words:
Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Vijay Shankar/Dinesh Karthik, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami and Rishabh Pant.
