Rishabh Pant, Ambati Rayudu and Navdeep Saini have been named as the standbys in India’s squad for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019; to be held in England and Wales.
Both Pant and Rayudu were excluded from India’s 15-man squad for the grand tournament, but have found a place as back-ups. The duo’s prohibition from the travelling squad caused a massive argument amongst the cricket fraternities, with several claiming Pant, 21, should have been a part of it.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) went for experience over charisma, as veteran Dinesh Karthik was picked above the youngster. As far as Rayudu is concerned, the 33-year-old was replaced by all-rounder Vijay Shankar.
Selector MSK Prasad explained that Shankar’s ‘three-dimensional’ skills (batting, bowling and fielding) has worked in his favour. And the news, of course, wasn’t digested well enough by the batsman, who eventually took to Twitter and posted cryptic quote which read, “Just Ordered a new set of 3d glasses to watch the world cup.”
Pant, on the other hand, is yet to speak over the same.
Furthermore, only Navdeep Saini will travel to the UK with the rest of the squad as he is a part of the net bowlers’ contingent, comprising of Deepak Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan.
The list of these three standbys has been prepared in case the team is affected by an injury scare. Hence, there is no particular order as to how they will be selected. It will be completely based on condition and situation.
"Just like the ICC Champions Trophy, we have three standbys. Rishabh Pant and Ambati Rayudu are the first and second standbys while Saini is the bowler in the list. So if anyone gets injured, as per requirement, one of the three will be going,” a senior BCCI official told PTI on Wednesday.
India's 15-man World Cup squad:
• Virat Kohli (Captain)
• Rohit Sharma (Vice Captain)
• Shikhar Dhawan
• KL Rahul
• Vijay Shankar
• MS Dhoni
• Kedar Jadhav
• Dinesh Karthik
• Yuzvendra Chahal
• Kuldeep Yadav
• Bhuvneshwar Kumar
• Jasprit Bumrah
• Hardik Pandya
• Ravindra Jadeja
• Mohd Shami
