3 retired Indian cricketers who would have shone in Kohli's squad at the 2019 World Cup
The Indian Cricket Team is gearing up for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 in England. The team's ODI record over the last years has been sensational and on current form, India are one of the favourites to lift the trophy.
However, there are certain problems skipper Virat still needs to solve with respect to his 50-over side.
There are still some gaps in the playing XI that need to be filled up. There are also some concerns about the form and fitness of certain players. Here is a list of 3 former cricketers who excelled for India in the previous editions and would have probably fit perfectly into Kohli's current squad for the tournament:
#3 Zaheer Khan (from the 2011 World Cup)
India's fast bowling department has been spearheaded by Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah in recent times. Both have been bowling beautifully and have picked up wickets consistently.
However, question marks remain over the third fast bowling option. None of the contenders – Umesh Yadav, Mohd. Shami, Siddharth Kaul and Khaleel Ahmed – have done enough over the last few months to make the spot their own.
In seamer-friendly conditions in England, India needs a reliable third seamer. The experienced Zaheer Khan would have filled this void with his skills and guile. Being a left-arm bowler, he would have added variety to the attack.
He had the ability to swing the new ball both ways as well as reverse swing the older ball. He was nippy and could also bowl deadly yorkers in the death overs.
Khan's World Cup stats speak are nothing short of phenomenal. From 2003 to 2011, he played in 3 World Cups and picked up 44 wickets, which puts him 5th on the all-time highest wicket-takers in the tournament.
He was an integral part of India's run to the finals in 2003. And when India did lift the trophy in 2011, he was their main strike bowler. That year, he scalped 21 wickets in the tournament, which was the joint highest for that edition.
He was MS Dhoni's go-to man in the tournament and was called upon whenever the team needed to break a partnership in the middle overs. This is another area where the current Indian team could do with him as they lack wicket-taking seamers the middle of the innings, should the spinners fail.