MY WORLD CUP SQUAD - INDIA

The countdown has begun !! The biggest Cricketing event is less than 2 months away. With the ongoing IPL, the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and soon to follow Cricket World Cup, this situation is pretty much like a student whose final exams are nearing but has a big fat wedding in the family to attend with the distraction of his NRI cousins visiting.

Well there is a very thin line between player form and workload management of key Indian players as all eyes are glued on the high staked franchise cricket. Should performances in the IPL be considered for selections of the squad at the WC ? Should BCCI give instructions to the franchise owners to manage workload or rest key members of the squad ? As a die hard cricket fan, I'm anxious to see how our administration handles this situation.

The selection of my squad of 15 has been based on 2 factors

a) To have sufficient back ups for each specialized skill

b) To have the flexibility to change the balance of your starting XI based on the playing conditions

My XV

1) Shikhar Dhawan (Opener)

2) Rohit Sharma (Opener)

3) Virat Kohli (Captain)

4) MS Dhoni (Wicket-keeper)

5) Kedar Jadhav (Middle Order batting all-rounder)

6) Vijay Shankar (Middle Order batting all-rounder)

7) Hardik Pandya (Seam bowling all-rounder)

8) Mohammad Shami (Fast bowler)

9) Kuldeep Yadav (Spinner)

10) Yuzvendra Chahal (Spinner)

11) Jasprit Bumrah (Fast bowler)

12) Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Reserve/Additional Fast bowler)   

13) Ravindra Jadeja (Spinning all-rounder / Reserve spinner) -  Depending on the playing conditions, if India wants to go in with 3 genuine fast bowlers, then Bhuvi makes his way into the playing XI & one of Kuldeep or Chahal miss out. In that case, Jaddu being a spin bowling allrounder can be drafted into the playing XI ahead of Vijay Shankar or Hardik Pandya giving India the flexibility to maintain their balance between seam and spin.

14) Lokesh Rahul (Reserve Opener / Top Order Batsmen) - If one of our top 3 are injured, he makes his way into the starting line up.

15) Dinesh Karthik (Reserve Wicket Keeper / Middle Order Batsmen)- He makes his way into XI, if there is any sort of injury to MS Dhoni or if any of the relatively inexperienced middle order are woeful out of form.

Workload Management - The players who are in the squad for India (especially fast bowlers) should only be permitted to play home matches for their respective franchises once the squads are announced. This way they are not tired travelling virtually every second day & have a bit of game time before the biggest event in world cricket.

Do share in your views for the squad you think India needs to lift the CUP at England & Wales this year ! Look forward to hearing from you all.