After days of wait and tea predictions among cricket pundits, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) finally announced the squad for the upcoming World Cup on Tuesday. The 15-member team was announced by BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar and skipper Rohit Sharma.

Bowling attack

As was hinted by Agarkar recently, the squad is more or less the same as that of the Asia Cup. While Prasidh Krishna and Tilak Varma have been left out, the selecytors have picked four seamsers including Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Shardul Thakur Mohammed Siraj.

Three spinners who have been included in the squad include Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja.

Also Read

Strong batting line-up

Lead by skipper Rohit Sharma, India’s batting also looked strong with the inclusion of Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan. Even as Kishan will be another keeping option in the team.

Being hosted by India this year, the tournament will start with a match between 2019 finalists England and New Zealand which will be held in Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium. The stadium will also hold the final on November 19. While India will start its campaign against Australia in Chennai on October 8, the much-awaited India-Pakistan match will be held on October 14.

Venues

A total of 10 venues have been selected for the 46-day event which will witness 48 matches across the country. Among the venues include Chennai, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Dharamsala,Mumbai and Pune. Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram will host practice matches, along with Hyderabad. A total of eight teams will participate in the tournament.

Also Read

The top four teams will qualify for the semi-finals. Mumbai will host the first semi-final on November 15, Kolkata will host and second semi-final on November 16.

Squad

Rohit Sharma (Captain), Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj.