Former Indian cricket team skipper Sourav Ganguly named his pick for India's ICC World Cup 2023 squad and it had some interesting exclusions. Ganguly decided to not include the trio of Sanju Samson, Prasidh Krishna and Tilak Varma - all three players who were picked for Asia Cup 2023. It included both Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul who are making a return from injury and were added in the squad for Asia Cup. India will start their World Cup campaign against Australia on October 8 in Chennai.
The former India skipper picked Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav as proper batting options. Ishan Kishan was the only specialist wicket-keeper in the squad with Rahul being the other option in case India want to play an extra batter in their team.
Among all-rounders, he picked Hardik Pandya and the left-arm spin duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. Kuldeep Yadav was the other spin option in the squad picked by Ganguly.
In the fast bowling department, there were not many surprises as Ganguly went with Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur.
Ganguly also named three back-up options if any of these players are ruled out for any reason. “If one of the batters gets injured then Tilak Varma can enter, while if the pacer gets injured then it's Prasidh Krishna, while in the case of spinner, Yuzvendra Chahal is the option," Ganguly told Star Sports.
Sourav Ganguly's picks for India's ICC World Cup 2023 squad: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur.