ICC Cricket World Cup 2019: Probable first choice XI for all teams
England is all set to host the ICC Cricket World Cup after 20 years but with a change as compared to the previous editions. The tournament will be contested in a 'round-robin' format where every team will play against every other team. As a result, this World Cup is expected to be one of the most closely contested as no team will escape their most feared opposition just because they were placed in different groups.
As the teams get ready for the big stage, most of them have more or less zeroed in on their playing XI. The tournament is a long one and hence changes in the XI are inevitable during the course of the tournament. And the look of a team might not be the same towards the latter half of the tournament as their first choice XI.
Here is a look at the probable first choice playing XI for each team:
#1 India
India as one of the favorites along with hosts start England. They enter the World Cup with almost all bases covered. Barring the home series loss against Australia, India have been one of the most successful ODI sides in the past couple of years. The choice of playing XI is pretty straight-forward, except for the two slots; the number four and the second seamer.
Vijay Shankar should get the nod ahead of Rahul and Karthik at number four according to the selectors. As far as the second seamer is concerned, both Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammad Shami have had similar numbers over the past 6 months. While Bhuvi has an edge with his more than decent batting, Shami gives the extra firepower with the ball in the middle overs.
Probable playing XI: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (C), Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni (WK), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah