ICC World Cup 2019: One player India might regret not picking for the tournament
The 2019 World Cup is upon us. Ten of the best teams in the world will be fighting it out for the biggest prize in 50-over cricket. India, along with England and Australia, start as favourites for the World Cup. While England and Australia have a world-class batting line-up, India have a better bowling unit than these two.
India have announced their squad of 15 players, with all the usual suspects being there. However, the inclusion of Vijay Shankar in place of Rishabh Pant has raised quite a few eyebrows. The Indian selectors have preferred the 3-dimensional skill set of Shankar to Pant’s power hitting. This might come back to haunt India in the crucial stages of the tournament.
India’s batting revolves around its top order, with Virat Kohli being the lynch-pin of India’s batting line up. He is ably supported by Rohit Sharma, who has been enjoying a dream run in the past 2-3 years. But if these two fail to click, India’s batting has been found wanting. There have been numerous occasions in the past when India’s fragile middle-order has failed to click.
The likes of Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, and KL Rahul have been given multiple opportunities but haven’t been quite up to the mark. Also, all of them have a similar kind of game, and are not noted hitters of the cricket ball. Apart from Hardik Pandya, none of them can clear the boundary ropes at will with ease.
This is where Rishabh Pant could have come in and added the X-factor to India’s team. His recent form in the IPL was very promising. If India need 60-odd runs from 5 overs in a crunch match of the World Cup, they will definitely miss the services of Pant, who can play the big shots with ease and can get you a 20-25 run over with some big hits.
Rishabh's game will also be suited to the conditions on offer in England. He can just hit through the line with ease. The wonderful counter-attacking century that he got against England in the fourth innings at the Oval last year is just an example of what he can do if the conditions are in his favour.
Apart from that, in case Shikhar Dhawan fails to get going this summer, he can also be a very useful option at the top of the order. His attacking game would put the pressure back on the bowlers in the powerplay overs.
Indian fans will be hoping that it doesn’t come down to this. If it does, they will know who to blame.
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