NEW DELHI: Former Indian cricketer Wasim Jaffer has unveiled his ODI World Cup squad, which includes some unexpected selections. Jaffer's squad appears to draw heavily from the Asia Cup squad, but it does feature some notable omissions from the major tournament.
One of the surprising inclusions in Jaffer's squad is Tilak Varma, who has not yet made his ODI debut. His selection ahead of established players like Suryakumar Yadav and Sanju Samson has raised eyebrows and adds an element of surprise to the squad.
The former opening batter took to X, formerly known as Twitter to reveal his picks for the India squad.
In his squad selection, Wasim Jaffer opted for KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer, who recently made comebacks from their respective injuries, over Samson and Suryakumar. The decision to stick with these two players adds depth to the team.
Ishan Kishan, who delivered an outstanding performance with his knock of 82 against Pakistan in India's Asia Cup opener, has rightfully retained his place in the squad.
In the bowling department, Jaffer chose to go with Kuldeep Yadav while leaving out Yuzvendra Chahal from the mix.
The ODI World Cup is set to kick off on Thursday, October 5, with a match between 2019 finalists England and New Zealand at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The tournament will conclude with the final at the same venue on November 19.
The highly anticipated clash between India and Pakistan, originally scheduled for Sunday, October 15, has been moved a day earlier to Saturday, October 14, and will still take place at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Wasim Jaffer Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan (wk), KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj.
