Abhinav Mukund has selected an interesting Indian team for the upcoming ODI World Cup, which will be held in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia next year.
Abhinav Mukund gave his predictions on the Cricinfo YouTube channel, naming Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli as the top three, but excluding backup opener Yashasvi Jaiswal. Mukund did, however, put Ishan Kishan in his squad, who can serve as a backup to first-choice wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul or replace one of India’s top three batsmen. India’s T20I captain and ODI vice-captain were also included in the squad.
Abhinav Mukund chose Axar Patel and Washington Sundar as spin-bowling all-rounders, leaving Ravindra Jadeja out of the lineup. Meanwhile, Kuldeep Yadav was the only specialist spinner in the lineup. Hardik Pandya, on the other hand, was the only seam bowling all-rounder.
Given the expected bounce and movement on African wickets, Abhinav Mukund named a five-man seam-bowling department consisting of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, and Gurnoor Brar. However, Mohammed Shami, who has not played for the Men in Blue since the Champions Trophy final against New Zealand last year, has not been included in Mukund’s XI. Even Arshdeep Singh, India’s leading wicket-taker in T20Is, was not selected.
Abhinav Mukund selects five ‘Maybe’s’ for the Indian 2027 ODI World Cup squad
Mukund also mentioned five ‘Maybe’s’ – players who could make the team for the big event. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad were the only hitters he selected in that category. Meanwhile, seam-bowling all-rounders Nitish Kumar Reddy and Shivam Dube were added to the roster, along with seamer Arshdeep.
The cricketer-turned-expert also named several cricketers who are unlikely to make the squad, including Sanju Samson, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, and Tilak Varma, among others.
