Indian Cricket Team captain Rohit Sharma has set out clear instructions for World Cup 2023 contenders: Perform under pressure or perish. The Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel has yet to announce the squad for the Asia Cup 2023, with the team suffering an injury crisis. The likes of Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul are yet to return from injury. Their backups, Sanju Samson and Suryakumar Yadav, have failed to perform. Rohit relayed that no player was an automatic selection, and his batters will have to perform to earn their spot in the India World Cup squad.
The selection panel is set to take a ‘specialists-only’ approach for the World Cup 2023, with 7 batters and 7 bowlers to go alongside Hardik Pandya. Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Siraj are certainties in the bowling attack. As are Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill. The rest however are still in contention, trying to make use of every opportunity.
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While the bowling attack has a plethora of options, the batting muddle is reduced to a 5-man shortlist: KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, and Ishan Kishan. Kishan is likely to slot in as a backup keeper or third opener given his performances in the West Indies. Rahul and Shreyas are favourites but haven’t played any cricket in 4 months. As for Sanju vs SKY, there’s only one spot on the side.
“The percentage of injuries that have happened in the last 4-5 years, it is massive. When the players get injured or are not available, you try doing different things with different players — that is what I have to say about No. 4,” Rohit Sharma said.
In KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer’s absence, India persisted with Suryakumar Yadav and Sanju Samson in the middle order. While Sanju scored a fifty on a flat track, the duo largely failed to impress. They are expected to get an extended run, with Rahul and Shreyas uncertain to return. Depending on their fitness and the Asia Cup 2023 performance, a final squad will be named. Rohit has a clear message to all challengers: Perform in pressure situations.
“There are a lot of questions that we need answers of. But in the Asia Cup, I want to see some of the guys batting under pressure against quality teams. I still want to see those things, so we will wait and see what happens, but it is always nice to have a lot of names, rather than just one or two names. I hope they are fit in time – firstly that is the most important,” Rohit said.
Top 3’s dominance in World Cups
Rohit’s concerns are valid. India’s top 3 have dominated in the last two World Cup campaigns—2015 and 2019. When they failed in both semifinal matches, the team succumbed to defeat. India has 12 centuries in the last two editions, with Rohit alone scoring 6 of those. Of these, only Suresh Raina has a century batting in the middle order. That too came against Zimbabwe in 2015.
It is important to note that Zimbabwe hasn’t qualified for the World Cup since. KL Rahul also has a century to his name, but that came from opening the batting in 2019. No player batting below No.3 has more than 300 runs for India in the last two editions. For reference, during England’s 2019 win, they had three batters—Ben Stokes (465), Eoin Morgan (371) and Jos Buttler (312)—who breached the 300-run mark batting at No.4 or below.
The World Cup squad selection deadline is September 5. The selectors, however, can still make changes until September 28, one week before the World Cup. Captain Rohit has set the benchmark for the contenders, and the next few weeks will see Ajit Agarkar Co. prune them from the pretenders before Asia Cup 2023.
“The selection (meeting) will be there in a few days, we will have a good debate about what we can do. But honestly, nobody is an automatic choice – they all have to fight for the spot,” Rohit added.
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