Gautam Gambhir shares his India squad for ODI World Cup 2023

Gautam Gambhir was one of the standout performers when India won the T20 World Cup in 2007 and the ODI World Cup in 2011. India are yet to announce their provisional squad for the upcoming ODI World Cup which will be exclusively held in India for the first time.

Gambhir revealed the squad he feels India should go in with at the showpiece event. There are a couple of surprise picks in the squad predicted by the legendary cricketer. India selected a 17-member squad for the Asia Cup. Sanju Samson is the designated travelling reserve. However, for the ODI World Cup, which begins on October 5, all teams will be able to name squads comprising only 15 players.

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Notably, in Gambhir's predicted World Cup squad, off-spinner Washington Sundar found a spot. The Tamil Nadu cricketer has not been picked for the Asia Cup side. From the 17-member squad for the six-team tournament, Gambhir didn't pick Shreyas Iyer, Tilak Varma, and Shardul Thakur in his predicted World Cup line-up.

Gambhir considered only one wrist spinner, Chahal failed to find a spot in his team

As per the former India opener, Gautam Gambhir, the four quicks in the form of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, and Prasidh Krishna his frontline seamers considering the different venues and conditions the team will play in India. While in the batting department, skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, and Suryakumar Yadav are the four specialist batters in the squad.

Interestingly enough, Kuldeep Yadav is the only specialist wrist spinner while he left out the ace leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal for the marquee event. As India boasts of plenty of finger spinners in their arsenal, Gambhir picked Sundar, Axar Patel, and Ravindra Jadeja to provide batting depth in the lower order while Hardik Pandya was the key pacer-all-rounder combination. Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul were selected by Gambhir as the two wicketkeeping options.

Rohit and Co. will begin their ODI World Cup campaign on October 8, in Chennai, when they face former five-time champions Australia in Chennai. After the Asia Cup, India will be travelling home to play a three-match ODI series against Pat Cummins' men.

Gautam Gambhir's India ODI World Cup squad:

Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami

Check: India Squad for ODI World Cup 2023