The 2023 ODI World Cup tournament is to be played in India in less than a year. As host, India will like to win the World Cup. Practically India hasn’t played a lot of ODIs since the last World Cup 2019 and I can’t remember when India has played with a full team since 2019. The focus was on T20 and Test matches. The team needs to play as many as ODIs with the full squad to have the proper understanding of each player’s role else India even may not qualify for the semi-final as the standards of all the teams have been raised to a higher level.
Before discussing team combination, there are some important aspects that must be looked into. First is the number of all-rounders on the team. If we go through our World cup winning teams of the 1983 WC, T20 World Cup of 2007, and 2011 ODI WC, we will find that there are a number of allrounders in the teams. Without all-rounders, a team can’t perform consistently. All World cup champions in T20 and ODI always have a good number of all-rounders. Unfortunately, the present Indian team combination lacks quality all-rounders in numbers. Interestingly we have a lot of wicket-keeper batsmen performing well. Sometimes the team plays with 3-4 wicket-keeper batsmen and that reduces the depth of bowling.
The second aspect is that over a period our initial power-play batting became very slow. This is nothing but natural because the openers especially Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are now 35 and 37 years of age respectively. When one age, the reflexes become a bit slow. Without a sharp reflex, no power-play batting (at a higher strike rate) is possible. In the current Indian team most of the time bats very well in the last overs but the initial power-play, especially against a quality team, is below average.
Third is that many players are given opportunity after opportunity despite a poor record in the white ball with an excuse that the player has talent. In the 1.4 billion people there are a lot of talents. So, selection bias needs to be avoided if the team is to be a champion. There is a certain player who scores runs with a higher strike rate in test matches. That does not make him be very successful in white ball cricket for the simple reason that the fielding positions in test and limited cricket are very different. I am not taking names but cricket lovers easily know about whom I am talking. Now let’s go for team combination with alternatives.
Batsmen
I suggest five proper white ball batsmen one of which should be a wicketkeeper. Had Rohit Sharma not the Captain, I wouldn’t include him in my team. Anyway, Rohit Sharma will always be there. In case he’s injured or not available then KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, and Shubhman Gill must be prepared as an alternative. For the second opener, I would suggest a left-hander. In my team, I would prefer Ishan Kisan followed by Devdutt Padikkal and Yashasvi Jaiswal. Virat Kohli is my number-3 whereas in his absence KL Rahul/Shreyas Ayer/Sanju Samson can be replaced in order. The number four batsman is Surya Kumar. In his absence, K.L. Rahul/Shreyash Ayer/Sanju Samson is to be replaced in order of reference. The number five batsman should be Shreyas Ayer/Sanju Samson/KL Rahul.
So for the batting pool (for 5 spots) of the 2023 WC, I chose Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kisan, Virat Kohli, Surya Yadav, KL Rahul, Shreyas Ayer, Prithvi Shaw, Subhuman Gill, Ishan Kisan, Devdutt Padikkal, Yashasvi Jaiswal.
All Rounders–
We need at least three true all-rounders with one being fast bowling all-rounder. If Hardik Pandya bowls then he’s the best fast-bowling all-rounder and best for the number-6 batting order. However, if he is not available or he can’t bowl because of some issue, then he doesn’t find a place in this Indian team. In his absence, Shardul Thakur or Shivam Dube can be accommodated.
Spin Bowling all-rounder- As the World cup is hosted by India then the pitch in most matches will be helpful for slow bowlers. In that case, Ravindra Jadeja is the best all-rounder to my understanding. Third, all-rounders may be Axar Patel, Krunal Panday, and Rahul Tewatia.
So for the all-rounder pool (for three slots), I chose Hardik Pandya, Shardul Thakur, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Krunal Panday, and Rahul Tewatia.
Bowlers:
We need three wicket-taking bowlers irrespective of the fact whether they can contribute to batting or not. Out of them, we require two fast bowlers and one spinner, especially a wrist spinner. For two fast bowlers, we need a combination of left and right-arm bowlers. For right-arm fast bowling, the best player is Jaspit Bumrah. In case Bumrah is not available I will go for Bhubaneswar Kumar, Umran Malik, & Md Siraj. As a left-arm fast bowler, Arshdeep Singh is the first Choice. If he is not available for any injury we have Khalil Ahamad, T Natrajan. I just wonder why Bhubaneswar Kumar is not selected for one-day teams!
For the wrist spinner option, my first choice is Rabi Bishnoi. In case he is unavailable or not in the form I would go for Yazvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav in the order for replacement.
So, my bowling pool comprised of Bumrah, Bhubaneswar Kumar, Umran Malik, Md Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Khalil Ahamad, T. Natarajan, Ravi Bishnoi, Yazvendra Chahal, and Kuldeep Yadav.
So the above is a total of 28 players as a pool who are to be tested/experimented with before the selection of the final 15 considering the form of the players. In the final eleven, there must always be five batsmen (including wicketkeeper-batsman), three all-rounders,s and three pure bowlers.
What’s your opinion?