The schedule for the World Cup 2023 is out, recently released by the BCCI and the ICC. The 10-team tournament will kick-start on October 5 and will conclude on November 19 in Ahmedabad.
The last three ODI World Cups have been won by the home teams, the trot started by India in 2011, followed by Australia in 2015 and England in 2019. India would like to continue this sequence and clinch their third ODI World Cup trophy.
For that, though, they need to add some new faces in their side, some uncapped players who have shown great pedigree in domestic cricket and in the IPL, and although who are uncapped yet, these players could get a chance in ODIs in the coming months and make a strong case for their selection in India’s World Cup squad.
Here are 2 currently uncapped players who could get into India’s squad for World Cup 2023:
Yashasvi Jaiswal
Yashasvi Jaiswal has got his maiden India Test call-up for the upcoming series in West Indies. He was, however, not selected for the ODI squad. Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill are India’s first-choice openers and are likely to remain in the World Cup 2023. But the position of a backup opener is up for grabs in the WC squad.
It is Ishan Kishan who is touted as the backup opener, however, Kishan’s form in ODIs this year has been poor: in 4 ODi knocks this year, he has only 33 runs. Kishan will remain in the scheme of things because he’s also a backup keeper to KL Rahul, but Sanju Samson could also close in on the backup keeper role.
If Kishan doesn’t deliver soon with the bat, he might find himself out of favor for Jaiswal, who is coming off a whirlwind IPL 2023 season, where he amassed 625 runs at a strike rate of 163 with 1 hundred and 5 fifties. Jaiswal also has impressive List-A numbers: average of 53 in 32 List-A games with 5 hundereds and 7 fifties.
Rinku Singh
Another uncapped Indian batsman who had a breakthrough IPL 2023 season was KKR’s Rinku Singh. Rinku was KKR’s top scorer in the tournament: despite batting lower down the order in a mercurial role, he stunned everyone by scoring 474 runs at a strike rate of 149 with 4 fifties, and showed great consistency in the finisher’s role.
Coming to his List-A cricket, Rinku has a brilliant record there as well: the Uttar Pradesh batter averages 53 in 50 List-A matches and has a strike rate of 95 with 1 century and 16 fifties to his name.
Rishabh Pant is unlikely to play in the World Cup 2023, and Rinku Singh has emerged as arguably the best Indian finisher in the IPL 2023. Rinku Singh could force his way into the ODI side come the World Cup. India can even drop Shreyas Iyer from the side, push KL Rahul at number 4 and have Rinku Singh at number 5, ahead of Hardik and Jadeja.
