ICC World Cup 2019: 2 Players who are unlucky to miss out
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the 15-member squad of Team India today in Mumbai for the ICC World Cup 2019 beginning on May 30. Though the last date for announcing the World Cup squads is 23rd April, BCCI has decided to announce it eight days prior to the scheduled cut-off date.
The selection committee led by MSK Prasad has picked five specialist batsmen, two wicketkeepers, three fast bowlers, three all-rounders, and two specialist spinners. Dinesh Karthik has been picked as the backup wicket-keeper to MS Dhoni while KL Rahul came into the squad as the reserve opener. Virat Kohli will be leading the side with Rohit Sharma being his deputy.
As is often the case with squad announcements, there are some players who are going to be left very disappointed and this time around, things are no different and there are many players who will feel aggrieved not to be on the flight to England.
Here we take a look at two of such players who might feel a bit hard done by after being left out of the squad.
#2 Rishabh Pant
One of the major surprises from the squad announcement is the omission of Rishabh Pant. The young wicket-keeper has risen through the ranks in the past 12 months in terms of his batting but the Delhi-lad has got a lot of flack during the last two matches of Australia tour of India for his low wicket-keeping standards.
One more thing that might have gone against him in the recent past is his temperament at the crunch situations of the game. The 21-year-old has often thrown his wicket away playing rash shots at critical junctures.
The southpaw has thus far represented India in 5 ODIs scoring 93 runs at an average of 23.25.
#1 Ambati Rayudu
The exclusion of Ambani Rayudu is also one of the major surprises. Until the start of the India tour of New Zealand, Ambati Rayudu was the strong contender of the number four slot but his poor returns in the series against New Zealand and Australia did not help his cause.
The conditions in England are pretty similar to that of New Zealand and Australia but the 33-year-old did not live up to the promise as he just scored 223 runs in 8 innings at a mediocre average of 31.85. He could only score a single fifty-plus score in India's last two ODI assignments before the World Cup.
Representing one's country in the World Cup is a dream of every cricketer and the Andhra-born cricketer must be unlucky to let it go away at the very end.
Thus far the right-hander scored 1694 runs in 54 ODIs at an average of 47. Rayudu also has 3 tons and 10 fifties to his name.