There is some time left for India to name its squad for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 to be held in England from May 30 to July 14. However, former cricketer Ajay Jadeja has picked 15 players who he feels should be included in India’s squad.
Quite surprisingly, he selected MS Dhoni to lead the Indian team at the World Cup instead of their regular captain Virat Kohli. He also did not include batting all-rounder Vijay Shankar in his squad for the mega-event.
“If there is anyone in this world who thinks Kohli’s captaincy is better than Dhoni’s, please come and debate with me,” Jadeja said in the studio of Cricbuzz where Gaurav Kapur and Zaheer Khan were also present.
“If you see, this is only the team for the World Cup, not the future. We have now come to that stage [of the World Cup]. When the planning happened to make Kohli the captain, it was with an eye towards a future without Dhoni,” the former middle-order batsman added.
Not only did he pick Dhoni as the team’s captain, but he also included Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in his India squad. Jadeja’s team has four spinners in Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin.
The 48-year-old Haryana lad has also named Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik in the 15-man squad despite them being inconsistent in recent times. However, the batting line up looks quite settled with KL Rahul as the backup opener to Shikhar Dhawan.
Ajay Jadeja’s Indian squad for the World Cup:
Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan/KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Ambati Rayudu, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin.
