The 2023 ODI World Cup will begin in October this year and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has started the squad preparation by shortlisting 20 players for the final squad. These players will be monitored ahead of the tournament and the National Cricket Academy (NCA) will also coordinate with their respective Indian Premier League (IPL) teams during the 2023 T20 tournament to avoid injury.
Let’s look at those who are most likely to be among the 20 individuals:
1- Rohit Sharma (captain): Rohit may have endured one of the least prolific years of his career last year, but he is the captain and it has been made clear that his position is not under threat. It’s hard to see any other player opening the innings ahead of him.
2- Ishan Kishan: The Jharkhand wicketkeeper’s record double century against Bangladesh put him ahead of all other contenders to open the innings with Rohit.
3- Shubman Gill/Shikhar Dhawan: Gill was seen as the second in the list for the top spot but Kishan’s record show has clearly demoted him to the third choice. As does Shikhar Dhawan, whose status as India’s long-standing spinner with Rohit seems gone as he has been ruled out for the team’s upcoming series against Sri Lanka.
4- Virat Kohli: The former captain has found the most success in ODIs in his prolific career. He will be looking to reproduce some of that now that he has finally ended his century-long drought in the format.
5- Shreyas Iyer: Iyer was easily India’s best ODI batsman throughout 2022. He has been India’s best run-scorer in the format and will continue to be one of the first names in the XI for a while.
6- Suryakumar Yadav: India will want to slot in Suryakumar in the middle order despite the availability of a number of good players simply because of his absolutely outstanding performances in T20Is last year.
7- Rishabh Pant: While Pant is undoubtedly one of India’s key players across formats, the wicketkeeper’s availability depends on his recovery after Pant suffered multiple injuries in a car accident last week. Pant had a fairly good year in ODIs in 2022, averaging 37.33 in 10 innings. However, he has been at his best when playing in the top order, which seems too crowded for him at the moment.
8- KL Rahul: KL Rahul has lost his captaincy to Hardik Pandya and that means he is no longer immune to the slump after a string of indifferent performances since his comeback from injury last year.
9- Hardik Pandya: Pandya’s extraordinary revival last year made him one of the first names on the team list for India in limited overs cricket.
10- Ravindra Jadeja: Injuries kept Jadeja out of the team for most of the Asia Cup and the entire T20 World Cup last year, and India clearly missed an ace all-rounder. They hope he can maintain his prolific form, especially with the bat, whenever he returns and avoid injury just ahead of the 2023 World Cup.
11- Sanju Samson: Samson showed his penchant as a finisher in 50 overs cricket whenever he got into the game last year and will be counted on for a place in the playing XI.
12- Washington Sundar: The spin-bowling all-rounder has time and again shown that he is very much a batsman to reckon with. However, his trajectory was hampered by injuries last year and he will look to make amends whenever he gets the chance.
13- Jasprit Bumrah: Bumrah’s injury that ruled him out of the T20 World Cup made news all over the world, showing how important he is to the Indian team. His injury problems have been central to India’s recent crisis, with key players taking a serious knock ahead of major tournaments and series.
14- Yuzvendra Chahal: With the tournament being held in India, spinners will be central to India’s plans and it is hard to see them omitting Chahal like they did during last year’s T20 World Cup in Australia.
15- Kuldeep Yadav: Kuldeep will always be clamoring to make the Indian squad for any major tournament. However, the question remains as to how much faith the team itself is prepared to invest in him, especially considering how he was dropped for the second Test against Bangladesh despite delivering a man-of-the-match performance in the first.
16- Mohammed Shami: Shami was among India’s best bowlers in the T20 World Cup and the team will consider the senior for the 2023 World Cup.
17- Mohammed Siraj: While he may be in the 20-man shortlist, Siraj may have to do a lot more than he has shown so far to become a guaranteed first team player at the World Cup.
18- Arshdeep Singh: Among India’s best players in the T20 World Cup, Arshdeep has a great chance to become one of India’s regular pacers in the 2023 tournament.
19- Bhuvneshwar Kumar: He may have slipped down the pecking order after leaking runs in T20 matches last year. Bhuvneshwar could be among those who could drop out of the Twenty20 altogether if he can’t turn things around before the World Cup this year.
20- Umran Malik: India will be hoping that Umran comes of age before the World Cup. If so, they could have a powerful weapon that would tear up batting lineups early in the game.
