India looking for right balance

Skipper Rohit Sharma’s challenge will be to figure out an ideal playing XI

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DEPTH IN THE batting and six bowling options in the eleven will be India's formula at the home World Cup, where they look to end their ICC title drought. What it meant was that they could not draft an offspinner or a right-arm tweaker into the 15-member squad announced by the chairman of national selection committee Ajit Agarkar. With concerns over the fitness of their pacers, they had to pick four apart from Hardik Pandya for the tournament that begins on October 5.

The squad was expected to remain more or less the same as one picked for the Asia Cup, though. Rohit Sharma and Agarkar had said there was still scope for a few changes, triggering speculation of surprise moves. But all that was put to the bin on Tuesday. From the team that is currently featuring in Asia Cup, the selectors have omitted Prasidh Krishna, Tilak Varma and Sanju Samson. It is understood that the three will remain as reserves along with R Ashwin, who will be a cover for the three spinners - Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav. The two-time ODI world champions, though, could make changes to the squad till September 27.

Biggest challenge

With KL Rahul clearing the fitness test over the weekend at the National Cricket Academy, there was no scope for last-minute surprises like it has been the case with India's World Cup-bound squads over the last four years. The 15-member squad includes five batsmen, two wicketkeepers, one all-rounder, four pacers and three spinners (two of them all-rounders), and has the right balance. Eleven can bat, eight could bowl.