India have some holes to fill in their ODI squad owing to injuries to four key players – Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul, and Shreyas Iyer, all four of whom will be missing out on the upcoming 3-ODI series in West Indies, and ODI World Cup 2023 is on line.
Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid will use this West Indies series as an opportunity to try out players who could fulfill these roles, not just for now, but could be picked up in World Cup 2023 squad as well as backups if those four players are still unfit by then.
India will head into the World Cup 2023 with great hopes and expectations, for, this being a home World Cup and they have a good mixture of youth and experience. One of the reasons for India’s failures in ICC tournaments in the past has been a lack of X-factor, someone who could surprise the opponent, and whose selection could even surprise the Indian fans.
Here are 3 players who could be surprise picks in India’s World Cup 2023 squad:
Rinku Singh
Rinku Singh is one of the most loved and adored cricketers currently. For his story has been inspirational and relatable to fans. Rinku Singh took the IPL 2023 by storm. The left-handed KKR batsman did the finishing duties to the tee this season and mesmerized everyone with his terrific batting. Rinku was KKR’s top run-scorer this season, despite batting lower down the order in a mercurial role, scoring 474 runs at a strike rate of 149 with 4 fifties.
Coming to his List-A cricket, Rinku has a brilliant record in 50-overs cricket 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 ODI side come the World Cup.
Yashasvi Jaiswal
While Yashasvi Jaiswal got his maiden Test call-up for the WI Test series, he didn’t get selected in India’s ODI squad because India have their opening combination fixed at Rohit and Gill with Ishan Kishan acting as the back-up opener and keeper.
However, Kishan, after his double hundred against Bangladesh last year, hasn’t performed well this year in ODIs: in 4 ODi knocks this year, he has only 33 runs.
If Kishan continues to struggle in ODIs in coming matches, it could pave the way for India to give an ODI call-up to Jaiswal, who is coming off a thunderous 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.
Arshdeep Singh
India have been searching for a long-term left-arm seamer since Zaheer Khan. While a few came in between, nobody showed as much promise as Arshdeep Singh, who even led India’s attack last year T20 World Cup. However, Arshdeep has shockingly been kept out of the ODI side, despite his T20 success in different conditions around the world.
He’s been superb in T20I so far – 41 wickets in 26 T20Is – but in spite of that, the selectors and management have not shown faith him in ODIs, after he didn’t have success in a couple of ODIs in batting-friendly conditions in New Zealand last year.
Instead, India have called up Jaydev Unadkat in the ODI squad for WI. Arshdeep Singh has all assets, skills, and temperament to handle the pressure of a crunch World Cup game and situation. He could be in the squad for World Cup 2023.
