ODI World Cup 2023: 5 players to miss out on India's World Cup squad

Chief selector Ajit Agarkar and captain Rohit Sharma announced the India squad for the 2023 ODI World Cup at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon. The 15-member squad is almost similar to the team that is currently playing in the Asia Cup 2023 in Sri Lanka. There were some obvious choices and some surprising omissions in the squad, which will look to end India's drought of a major trophy in the last 10 years.

Here is India's squad for the 2023 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (vc), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, and Mohammed Siraj.

In this article, we take a look at five players who missed out on India's 2023 ODI World Cup squad

5. Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Another veteran player who did not make it to India's World Cup squad is pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar. India's 'Swing King' played his last ODI game in January 2022 and hasn’t played this format for more than two and half years now. The Indian cricket board had recently hinted at moving on to other bowlers, and the 33-year-old is unlikely to return to the team in the near future.

4. Tilak Varma

After his sensational performances for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League over the last two seasons, Tilak Varma earned his maiden national call-up. The 20-year-old continued his good form against West Indies and impressed the selectors to pick him in the Asia Cup squad. However, with the World Cup squad being trimmed to 15-member, Varma was left out. His left-handed knocks would have been crucial in India's middle overs in the World Cup.

3. Shikhar Dhawan

The man on a big occasion Shikhar Dhawan has been ignored by the Indian selectors for the ODI World Cup. The veteran India opener, who was part of the 2015 and 2019 editions, has been an out-of-favour star for a few years. As mentioned earlier for Chahal, Dhawan's omission was also expected by many as the southpaw has been replaced by Shubman Gill in India's top order.

2. Yuzvendra Chahal

One notable omission from India's ODI World Cup squad is that of Yuzvendra Chahal. However, it doesn't come as much of a surprise to Indian fans as the 33-year-old has been nowhere in India's plans in the 50-over format in recent times. Kuldeep Yadav was picked as the primary spinner for the marquee event as the left-arm Chinaman has been impressive. Chahal, who was not included in the 2023 Asia Cup squad, has not played an ODI since January 2023. He has a decent record in this format - 121 wickets in 72 matches at an economy of 5.26.

1. Sanju Samson

With KL Rahul returning from injury and Ishan Kishan performing well in ODIs, Sanju Samson missed out on the World Cup squad. However, leaving him out and picking Suryakumar Yadav, who failed in the format despite getting numerous chances, did not impress many fans. The Kerala-born player does not have much experience in ODI cricket, but in his 13 innings, he has scored 390 runs at an average of 55 and proved that he can be a firecracker in the middle order with his explosive shots.