Rishabh Pant and Ambati Rayudu still have an outside chance of making it to the Indian squad for the 2019 World Cup after the team management named the duo among the three standbys for the World Cup. Navdeep Saini is the third name on the list.
The BCCI Selection Committee headed by MSK Prasad announced India’s 15- Member for the 2019 World Cup in England. The omission of England came as a surprise to many former cricketers and experts who even questioned his absence from the squad.
Former cricketers Sunil Gavaskar and Gautam Gambhir were the two who batted for Rayudu’s selection in the team, who was another big-ticket omission from the squad.
Rayudu was India’s number four since the Asia Cup 2018 and scored a hefty amount of runs to make a case for his World Cup.
However, Prasad said Vijay Shankar with his three-dimensional abilities was better suited for English conditions while also saying that he will be India’s designated number four for the tournament.
Meanwhile, Twitter Pant and Rayudu welcomed the decision after they were inducted into the team as stand-bys. Many said that they have got a second chance to make it to the main squad.
There are also opinions that despite the absence of the two cricketers, the rest of the squad looks solid and have all the bases covered. This World Cup will be played in a round-robin format with every team playing each other once, followed by semi-finals and final.
India begin their World Cup campaign by taking on South Africa at Southampton on June 5.
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