With the much-awaited World Cup only four months away now, the former cricketers are dishing out their best squads. All the teams are looking to fine-tune their skills ahead of the ICC event and are using the ongoing international games to try out a few things before finalising on the final team for the 2019 World Cup.
Former India pacer Zaheer, meanwhile, donned the hat of a selector and gave his opinion on how India’s squad should look like for the 10-team tournament.
The World Cup is scheduled to begin on May 30 with South Africa taking on hosts England, while the two-time World champions India will begin their campaign on June 5 against the Proteas in Southampton.
Zaheer, who played an important role in India’s second World Cup triumph in 2011 at home, revealed his squad in a video posted by Cricbuzz on their Twitter handle.
In the 15-man squad, Zaheer has picked the dynamic duo, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, as his openers with skipper Virat Kohli coming in at the crucial No. 3 slot. The former left-armer opted to go with the veteran MS Dhoni at No. 4 while his choice for the No.5 spot was either Ambati Rayudu or Dinesh Karthik.
Zaheer has backed Kedar Jadhav to do the job for his side in lower middle-order with Hardik Pandya being the only fast bowling all-rounder in the squad.
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Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal are the two leading spinners in the 15-member team with Ravindra Jadeja being the backup spinner. As expected, Zaheer has picked Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami as his three main pacers.
Interestingly, Zak went with rookie Rishabh Pant, who was left-out from India’s recently held ODI series Down Under and the ongoing series in New Zealand. For the final spot, the Mumbaikar has kept the choice open for out of form KL Rahul or the fourth seamer.
Zaheer Khan’s Indian squad for the ICC World Cup 2019:
Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (c), MS Dhoni (wk), Ambati Rayudu/Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul/a fast bowler.
