Team India’s 15-man World Cup 2023 squad was finalised on September 28, a week before the tournament starts on October 5. Since that crushing semifinal defeat in the World Cup 2019, the Men in Blue have changed quite a bit. So before India starts their ODI World Cup campaign against Australia on October 8, let’s compare the two India World Cup squads:
India World Cup Squad: 2019 | India World Cup Squad: 2023 |
Shikhar Dhawan (out) | Rohit Sharma (c) |
Rohit Sharma | Shubman Gill (in) |
Virat Kohli (c) | Virat Kohli |
Kedar Jadhav (out) | Shreyas Iyer (in) |
KL Rahul | KL Rahul (wk) |
Vijay Shankar (out) | Ishan Kishan (wk) (in) |
MS Dhoni (wk) (out) | Suryakumar Yadav (in) |
Dinesh Karthik (wk) (out) | Hardik Pandya (vc) |
Hardik Pandya | Ravindra Jadeja |
Ravindra Jadeja | Shardul Thakur (in) |
Yuzvendra Chahal (out) | Ravichandran Ashwin (in) |
Kuldeep Yadav | Kuldeep Yadav |
Bhuvneshwar Kumar (out) | Jasprit Bumrah |
Jasprit Bumrah | Mohammed Siraj (in) |
Mohammed Shami | Mohammed Shami |
Changes in the last two India World Cup Squads
Almost 50% of the team from the last edition of the ODI World Cup has changed for the Men in Blue.
Openers: Veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan, also known as Mr. ICC, has been dropped from the side. Young gun Shubman Gill has taken his spot and is on track to have one of the best seasons in ODI history in 2023.
Middle-order: Virat Kohli and KL Rahul have retained their spots, while Kedhar Yadav has since retired, and his spot has been taken by Suryakumar Yadav.
Wicket-keepers: India’s most successful skipper, MS Dhoni, played his last international match in the 2019 World Cup, and Dinesh Karthik has since been dropped. Their place has been taken up by KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan in the 2023 edition.
All-rounders: Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja have kept their pace as all-rounders, while Vijay Shankar hasn’t played a match for India since the 2019 World Cup. Shankar has been replaced by Shardul Thakur, while R Ashwin has also been added.
Bowlers: Instead of five genuine bowlers in 2019, India has decided to go with four bowlers in 2023. Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Shami have retained their spots, while Yuzvendra Chahal and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have been dropped. Bhuveneshwar has been replaced by Mohammed Siraj, while Chahal’s spot has been taken by all-rounder R Ashwin.