Team India has had a great start to their campaign in World Cup 2019. Most of the players are in great form and they surely look to be a side who will finish in the top-four. While the Indian squad seems to be well-rounded on paper, there could be a few axings right after the tournament is done. There could be various reasons for leaving some of these cricketers out.
While age might be a reason, their form and the value they add to the team could be the others. Also, some of the players who were brought in as the back-up for the first-choice players could also be left out for the upcoming tournaments/series. With some intense competition in domestic cricket, many players are eagerly waiting for their chances. All these players will have to fight hard to come back into the team at a later stage.
Vijay Shankar
Many would be of the opinion that Vijay Shankar was slightly lucky to make it into the World Cup squad. It was an intense battle between him and Ambati Rayudu. Just before the squad was announced, both these players have had mediocre outings. But given the fact the Shankar bowls a bit and is a better fielder, he was picked in the team. The all-rounder, though, didn’t have a great IPL 2019.
His performances with the bat were clearly disappointing and might have even affected SRH’s chances of going the distance. The lesser one speaks about his bowling, the better it is. Shankar has failed to justify the all-rounder tag and has been quite expensive with the ball more often than not. There are various aspects which Shankar will need to work on before he cements his place in the Indian team.
Dinesh Karthik
Dinesh Karthik has been roped into the squad as the back-up for MS Dhoni. Firstly, MSD is quite unpredictable and might not announce his retirement as yet. He’s had a great 2019 thus far and might want to push himself a little longer. If that is the case, Dinesh Karthik will be sidelined for the upcoming home season where there is no need of a back-up wicket-keeper. The other possibility is that MS Dhoni announces his retirement.
In that case, there would be an intense competition with Rishabh Pant who failed to make it into the World Cup squad due to the lack of experience. Pant has already proven himself in Test cricket and has been in the discussions for white-ball cricket as well. Given that he is still quite young, the management might look to give him a long run. While he’s been good in the death overs, Karthik has had troubles building up an innings when his team is under pressure. If he is to make it into the team, he needs to have a really good run in whatever opportunities that he gets.
Kedar Jadhav
The role of Kedar Jadhav has been quite limited in recent times. While he has started his ODI career off on a great note, he seemed to have drifted apart slightly of late. The main reason that he manages to find himself a spot in the first-choice eleven ahead of many others is because of his bowling. However, the oppositions have started figuring his tricks out and are dealing much better against him.
While he might be economical, Jadhav isn’t picking as many wickets as he used to do earlier. With the bat, he has blown hot and cold and hasn’t maintained consistency in the last few months. Given his injury-prone nature, the selectors might want to invest in a young cricket rather and give him a longer run.