Each World Cup squad announcement is accompanied by surprise and heartbreak. That’s how it’s always been. In 2003, VVS Laxman was so disappointed at being left out — Dinesh Mongia got the nod for his ability to chip in with a few overs — that he went off to the USA to get away from the World Cup fever that he could not be part of. As India succumbed to Australia in the final, it was hard not to think of what impact Laxman might have had. He scored four of his six ODI centuries against them, while averaging 46.
Gautam Gambhir has spoken on these very pages of his disappointment at missing out in 2007. He would channelise that anger towards helping India win the inaugural World T20 later that year, scoring a priceless 75 in the final. In 2011, it was Rohit Sharma’s turn to pick up the pieces, dropped at the last after having been a regular in the team for three years.
There is no such controversial omission in the 15 tasked with winning India a third World Cup in a couple of months’ time. But there are definitely some eyebrow-raising calls, not least the selection of Suryakumar Yadav as one of the reserve batters. SKY’s talent and enormous ability to work the angles in T20 cricket is beyond dispute, but his ODI record is shockingly poor. It’s hard to imagine any other player who has been selected for a major tournament while averaging 24.33, and with just two half-centuries from 24 knocks.
Clearly, the team management hopes that SKY can be an impact player who can conjure up the sort of innings he routinely does in the shortest format. But based on his 50-over displays till now, that’s looking increasingly like wishful thinking.
India have also taken a punt with their fast bowling. Jasprit Bumrah has yet to bowl a 10-over spell after returning from a lengthy injury lay-off, and we can only speculate as to whether Hardik Pandya can withstand the rigours of bowling in 11 matches (if India are to go the distance) across six weeks. Shardul Thakur has a happy knack of taking wickets, but can also be carted across the park. If he’s India’s fourth-best seamer, then there are problems.
Prasidh Krishna is also on the way back from surgery, and was probably considered too big a risk for such an intense schedule. Umran Malik did little to convince in the opportunities that he got that he had anything more than raw pace to offer, while Harshal Patel’s form tailed off alarmingly over the past year and more. The likes of Shivam Mavi and Kamlesh Nagarkoti, cornerstones of one of India’s most exciting Under-19 sides, haven’t really made the step up either.
Apart from Bumrah, none of the others is really a natural at bowling in the final overs. Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj both do their best work with the new ball, and India will hope that they can somehow nurse Bumrah through the tournament without any recurrence of the issues that have affected him over the past year and a half.
The spin department also has no real X-factor. Kuldeep Yadav is the unorthodox bowler in the mix, the wrist-spinner that’s almost mandatory for a title-winning side. He had a rough patch after the 2019 World Cup, but has bounced back well. But teams will clearly target him knowing that he’s India’s main wicket-taking threat in the middle overs.
Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel are very similar players — accurate and miserly, and capable of adding significant heft to the batting order. Neither, though, is the sort who will run through a side. Both average around a wicket a game, and are very much mid-innings tourniquets than destroyers. It’s fascinating how much better R Ashwin’s numbers — average and strike-rate — are compared to the two, but he was never even part of the squad discussion.
Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul recovering from injuries meant that Sanju Samson — another who didn’t take his chances — was bound to miss out, though more than a few thousand fans will ponder the wisdom of leaving out Yashasvi Jaiswal, who has scored runs for fun across formats for over a year.
If the likes of Rohit, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill and Rahul were heading into the World Cup in prime form, Jaiswal’s exclusion wouldn’t be a talking point. But given how so many of the Indian batters have struggled for consistency in recent times, it’s a brave call to leave out a young talent who can do no wrong at the moment.
For Rohit, this is his chance to atone for the crushing disappointment of 2011. But who will be the breakout star, in the way that Ashwin was in the all-important quarterfinal win against mighty Australia? Who can do what Yuvraj Singh did, and will either Rohit or Kohli be able to reprise the heroics of Sachin Tendulkar, the master? We’ll know the answers soon enough.