India’s 20-man World Cup shortlist: A look at the probable names who may have made the initial cut

The 2023 ODI World Cup will start in October this year and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has commenced the team’s build up for it by drawing up a shortlist of 20 players for the final squad.

These players are set to be monitored in the leadup to the tournament and the National Cricket Academy (NCA) will also co-ordinate with their respective Indian Premier League (IPL) teams during the 2023 edition of the T20 tournament to ensure they avoid injuries.

While the board did not reveal the names of the players who are in the shortlist, lets take a look at the those who are most likely to be among the 20 individuals.

1- Rohit Sharma (captain): Rohit may have endured among the least prolific years of his career last year but he is the captain and it has been made clear that there is no threat to his position. It is hard to see any other player open the innings ahead of him.

2- Ishan Kishan: The Jharkhand wicketkeeper-batter’s record double century against Bangladesh has put him ahead of all other candidates to open the innings with Rohit.

3- Shubman Gill/Shikhar Dhawan: Gill was seen as second in running for the openers’ slot but Kishan’s record-breaking show has clearly demoted him to the third choice. As has Shikhar Dhawan, whose status as India’s longtime opener with Rohit seems to be gone as he was dropped for the team’s upcoming series against Sri Lanka.

4- Virat Kohli: The former captain has found most success in ODIs in his prolific career. He will be looking to reproduce some of that, now that he has finally ended his drought of centuries in the format.

5- Shreyas Iyer: Iyer has easily been India’s best ODI batter over the course of 2022. He was India’s highest run scorer in the format and will continue to be one of the first names in eleven for a while.

6- Suryakumar Yadav: India will be keen to fit in Suryakumar in the middle order somehow despite the availability of a number of good players simply because of his utterly extraordinary 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 sustained multiple injuries in a car accident last week. Pant had a fairly good year in ODIs in 2022, scoring at an average of 37.33 in 10 innings. His best performances, however, have come when he played in the top order, which seems a bit too crowded out for him at the moment.

8- KL Rahul: KL Rahul has lost his vice-captaincy to Hardik Pandya and it means that he is no longer immune to the drop after a string of indifferent performances since returning from injury last year.

9- Hardik Pandya: Pandya’s extraordinary resurgence last year has made him one of the first names in the team sheet for India in limited overs cricket.

10- Ravindra Jadeja: Injuries kept Jadeja out of the squad for much of the Asia Cup and the entirety of the T20 World Cup last year and India clearly missed the ace all-rounder. They would hope that he can retain his prolific form, particularly with the bat, whenever he returns and avoid getting injured just before the 2023 World Cup.

11- Sanju Samson: Samson showed his penchant as a finisher in 50 overs cricket whenever he got to play last year and will be in the reckoning for a spot in the eleven.

12- Washington Sundar: The spin-bowling all-rounder has shown time and again that he is very much a batter to be counted on. However, injuries have hampered his trajectory last year and he will be looking to make amends whenever he gets chances.

13- Jasprit Bumrah: Bumrah’s injury that ruled him out of the T20 World Cup made news around the world, which shows just how important he is to the Indian team. His injury troubles have been central to India’s recent crisis with major players taking serious knocks ahead of big 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 leaving out Chahal the way did during the T20 World Cup in Australia last year.

15- Kuldeep Yadav: Kuldeep will always be within a shout to make it to the Indian team for any major tournament. However, it remains to be seen how much trust the team itself is ready to invest in him, especially considering how he was dropped for the second Test against Bangladesh despite providing a player 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 be keeping the senior pacer in consideration for the 2023 World Cup.

17- Mohammed Siraj: While he may be in the 20-man shortlist, Siraj may have to do much more than what he has shown thus far to become a guaranteed dfirst team player in the World Cup.

18- Arshdeep Singh: Among the standouts for India in the T20 World Cup, Arshdeep stands a strong chance at becoming one of India’s regular pacers in the 2023 tournament.

19- Bhuvneshwar Kumar: He may have fallen in the pecking order after leaking runs in T20 matches last year. Bhuvneshwar could be among those who could drop out of the 20 altogether if he cannot turn it around this year before the World Cup.

20- Umran Malik: India will be hoping that Umran comes of age before the World Cup. If so, they could have a potent weapon that tear batting lineups open early in games.