Team India start batter Virat Kohli in Guwahati (PTI Image)
India will look to solve their problem of plenty in the warm-up matches ahead of ODI World Cup.
Team India has reached Guwahati ahead of their warm-up match against England for the ICC ODI World Cup 2023. The All India Selection Committee finalised the 15-member squad on Thursday as Ravichandran Ashwin got a last-minute entry in the side in place of injured Axar Patel. The Indian cricket team will play the World Cup on their own soil after 12 years as in 2011 when the ICC event was held in India and the sub-continent MS Dhoni and Co. lifted the coveted trophy.
The warm-up matches will be the final tune-up for the teams ahead of the World Cup where the other teams will try to adapt to the Indian conditions while India will look to solve their problem of plenty to finalise their middle-order. KL Rahul has already cemented his place but there is still a race between Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav for the other spot.
Meanwhile, the team landed in Guwahati and was welcomed by a large amount of fans at the airport.
The writing was there on the wall when Axar failed to recover on time for the third ODI against Australia in Rajkot.
Ashwin travelled with the Indian team to Guwahati where they will play the first warm-up game against England on Saturday, September 30. Ashwin has grabbed 155 wickets from 114 ODIs and he took 1/47 and 3/41 in the first two ODIs versus Australia.
“Axar Patel has failed to recover in time for the World Cup after sustaining a left quadriceps strain during India’s Asia Cup Super Four encounter against Bangladesh. The spin-bowling all-rounder missed the final of the Asia Cup as a result,” ICC stated in a media release.
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“Veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been named his replacement, who was impressive on his return to ODI cricket in the recently concluded series against Australia where he picked up four wickets in two games,” the release further stated.
India World Cup squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav.
