BCCI shortlists 20 players for 2023 Men's ODI World Cup

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has selected a list of 20 players for the forthcoming ODI World Cup scheduled to be held later this year in India. The decision was made at the board’s Annual General Meeting on Sunday to finalise a balanced 15-member squad for the marquee event.

It is also understood that the selected list of players will be rotated in the bilateral series so that the squad will take up one after the other to ensure proper preparations are underway for the event. The meeting was helmed by BCCI president Roger Binny, who attended it through video conferencing while skipper Rohit Sharma, chief selector Chetan Sharma, coach Rahul Dravid, and NCA head VVS Laxman brainstormed for hours in a Mumbai hotel before coming up with the final list.

"It was a very constructive and fruitful meeting where we have reviewed the past performance and planned for the future events, including World Cup and World Test Championship (WTC). We will give preference for international cricket while making sure the IPL is not diluted," a BCCI source, who attended the meeting was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

"The issues of player availability, workload management, and fitness parameters were also discussed at length during the meeting along with the roadmap to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023," the source added.

Yo-Yo and Dexa tests made mandatory for selection: BCCI

Following India's lackluster performance in the T20 World Cup 2022 and the Asia Cup 2022, the management has already begun ideating plans for the mega event and the World Test Championship (WTC) this year. BCCI's top brass have analyzed and stated that the ‘Yo-Yo’ and ‘Dexa’ tests will mandatorily be a part of the selection in order to maintain high fitness standards.

"The Yo-Yo Test and Dexa will now be part of selection criteria and implemented in the customized roadmaps of the central pool of players," the BCCI said in a statement after the meeting.

The think tank clearly wants to ensure that the side makes proper preparation if they are to get back the glory days. It is worth mentioning that team India is in contention for a spot in the finals of the WTC which will take place post-IPL.