KL Rahul included in India’s World Cup squad, Sanju Samson misses out

NCA coaches and team management are confident of Rahul’s fitness after watching him extensively at the nets and in match simulation, reported PTI.

India’s World Cup squad was expected to be announced on September 4, ahead of the September 5 deadline, but the announcement has been postponed by a day with KL Rahul’s fitness clearance.

Rahul, who is expected to keep wickets for India, is likely to reclaim his number 5 spot, while Ishan Kishan could be retained as the second wicketkeeper-batsman, leaving Sanju Samson out of the World Cup squad.

According to a report in The Indian Express, the BCCI’s senior national selection committee picked the 15-member squad late on Saturday. Chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar flew to Sri Lanka where he met Indian captain Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid after the washed out India-Pakistan match.

Apart from Sanju Samson, Tilak Varman and Prasidh Krishna are reportedly the other players currently in India’s Asia Cup squad who were not included in the ODI World Cup squad. Krishna only recently rejoined the Indian squad for the Ireland series after regaining fitness following a lengthy injury lay-off.

India’s provisional squad for World Cup 2023: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Axar Patel, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav.

Updated: 03 Sep 2023, 09:54 AM IST