India's 15-player group for Cricket World Cup 2023 campaign was today revealed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Rohit Sharma will lead the squad as the captain. Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, and Mohammed Siraj are the rest. Hardik will be the Vice-Captain.
The inclusion of KL Rahul and the exclusion of Sanju Samson has been disputed by fans. Sreejith Panickar, an analyst, compared the two players' on-field performances in recent months:
KL Rahul: Runs 341. Average 42. Strike Rate 76. Fifties 3. Best 75*. Last played about 6 months ago, scored a 30.
Sanju Samson: Runs 332. Average 66. Strike Rate 106. Fifties 3. Best 86*. Last played last month, scored a 50.
The above comparison should make it clear that Sanju should have been preferred. Instead, he has been snubbed in favour of Rahul.
The batting line-up doesn't inspire confidence. "Unless Bumrah does an exceptional shift, we will struggle to reach the semis. Batting line-up - Rohit, Virat, KL Rahul, Iyer - will cause more worries to Indian supporters than to any opposition," wrote Somnath Mukherjee.
Even the bowling line-up is not to everyone's satisfaction. "Three left-handed leg-spinners. That’s it. This is what happens when BCCI is run by Jay Shah and the selection committee by someone who was the butt-end of all cricket jokes in the 90s," commented columnist Arnab Ray.
