ICC World Cup 2019: Harsha Bhogle picks his Indian squad for the tournament

With the much-awaited World Cup only four months away now, the cricket experts are dishing out their best squads. All the teams are looking to fine-tune their skills ahead of the mega-event and are using the ongoing international games to try out a few things before finalising on the final 15 players for the World Cup. Harsha Bhogle, meanwhile, donned the hat of a selector and gave his opinion on how India’s squad should look like for the 10-team tournament.

Harsha picked three openers in his team with Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan picking themselves thanks to their wonderful record for the country over the years in the 50-over format. He interestingly went for KL Rahul as the reserve opener but also felt that he is a border-line selection at the moment and things could change in a month or so. To make things worse, Rahul also bagged a golden duck against England Lions while playing for India A.

Middle-order muddle

Harsha Bhogle went with Ambati Rayudu as India’s number four despite his inconsistent performances in the last few matches while speaking to Cricbuzz. He also had Dinesh Karthik ahead of Rishabh Pant in the side. However, he was also quick to clarify that Pant still has a chance to make it to the squad and his performances against Australia at home could determine the same.

The pace bowling attack comprised of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami. According to Shami has sealed his place and will be preferred ahead of Khaleel Ahmed who suddenly came into the frame during the home series against the Windies and Asia Cup as the third seamer for the Men in Blue.

Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja are the two all-rounders in Harsha Bhogle’s team with the latter only being backup for Pandya. Jadeja also offers a lot in the field and is a better batsman at number seven which has helped him make a cut in this squad. Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal are the wrist spinners who again pick themselves in this team.

Having said that, Harsha was quick to point out that the places of Karthik, Jadhav and Rahul are open going into the final few matches before the World Cup.

Harsha Bhogle’s India squad for World Cup 2019: Virat Kohli (C), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (WK), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami.

Watch:

As we draw closer to the Cricket World Cup 2019, watch our experts pick their #MyWCSquad. Here's @bhogleharsha with his India squad.

What would your squad look like? Send your entries in using #MyWCSquad pic.twitter.com/lbFVOAblMo

— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) January 31, 2019

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