'He is an important player for us': Chief selector underlines importance of India star

BCCI have finally declared India's squad for the upcoming ICC ODI World Cup to be held on the home soil later this year. A 15-member squad has been announced as India will start their World Cup campaign against Australia on 8th October in Chennai. Rohit Sharma will lead the Men In Blue in the tournament.

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3 things you need to know

• BCCI picked a 15-member squad for the ICC ODI World Cup
• Rohit Sharma will lead Team India in the tournament
• India will play their opening match against Australia on 8th October

Team India's ICC ODI World Cup squad revealed

 (Team India during IND vs AUS 2023 ODI series / Image: BCCI)

A lot of permutations and combinations went into the selection and as expected barring a couple of players selectors have retained the core squad picked for the Asia Cup earlier. Prasidh Krishna and Tilak Varma have been left out of the squad as the likes of KL Rahul have managed to retain their place in the squad.

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Rahul was ruled out of India's first two Asia Cup games and there could be an interesting selection headache between Rahul and Ishan Kishan as the latter played a sublime knock against Pakistan in the ongoing continental tournament. It remains to be seen whether Rahul gets an imminent entry into the playing XI or Kishan manages to keep his place behind the wicket.

Ajit Agarkar reveals KL Rahul's importance in the World Cup

Rahul was injured in an IPL match between LSG and RCB and since then hasn't been involved for the Indian Cricket Team. However, chief selector Ajit Agarkar underlines Rahul's importance in the upcoming ICC ODI World Cup. He said, "KL Rahul looked really good during the training camp but picked up that niggle which we had talked about just before the Asia Cup which he had mentioned before. But he has gotten over it already. In last few days he has played two 50-over matches. Kept for 50 overs as well and batted for almost for the duration 50 overs. He is an important player for us and we are happy to have him back."

India ODI World Cup Squad

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