BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar, on Tuesday (September 5), announced a solid 15-member provisional squad for the upcoming ICC Men's 2023 ODI World Cup in India with senior opener Rohit Sharma as captain and star all-rounder Hardik Pandya as vice-captain. As the squad was announced, captain Rohit also addressed the issue of some star players missing out. The Indian squad announced by BCCI for the quadrennial event is similar to the one chosen for 2023 Asia Cup with Sanju Samson, Prasidh Krishna and Tilak Verma omitted for the final 15. Veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal are other notable absentees.
Dhawan, who played for the national team in 2013 Champions Trophy 2013 and was also part of 2019 ODI World Cup, won't be part of an 50 over ICC tournament after 10 long years. Chahal, first ignored for Asia Cup 2023, has once again been overlooked.
"Some of the guys will miss out, it's hard but it happens. I have been there myself, you just have to keep your chin up.
"We looked at the balance and this is possibly the best 15 that we could get.
"I just want everyone to be fit and available on game day so we could pick the best team to take on the opposition," Rohit said at the press conference in Kandy.
"There's no pressure in the World Cup. We will just go and play as per our ability," Rohit said on team India not winning an ICC trophy since 2013.
Rohit Sharma on criticism: "Our focus is on the gold. I hope nobody asks me again on the outside noise during the World Cup PCs, because I'm not gonna answer those questions anymore. We're professionals, all our boys know what to do."
India's ODI World Cup 2023 squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya (Vice-captain), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav