Gambhir selects Indian squad for World Cup 2019: Former Indian opening batsman has made a few surprising calls to his squad.

With every passing match which India plays, a large number of opinions get added to what exactly should be the Indian squad for the looming ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. Given how the stakes are increasing on a daily basis, one can feel the amount of pressure which the selectors will be in during naming the final squad for the world event.

Despite doing so well in ODIs in the recent times, India still haven’t been able to zero down on the final squad chiefly due to the inconsistency in the middle-order in the recent past.

Former India opening batsman Gautam Gambhir, who recently retired from all forms of cricket, put forward 15 names which he thought should make it to India’s World Cup squad. While Gambhir chose some of the expected names, he also made a few surprising decision to his squad.

“Both wrist-spinners [Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal] have done well in the last one year. But I still feel that Ravichandran Ashwin is somebody we should look at. Obviously, a quality off-spinner is a quality off-spinner.

“I’ve always believed that a quality spinner is a quality spinner – irrespective of whether he is a wrist-spinner or a finger-spinner,” Gambhir was quoted as saying by Times Now News.

Ashwin, who hasn’t played ODI cricket since India’s tour of West Indies in 2017, seems highly unlikely to be included especially after the wrist-spinners have done extremely well for India in the last year and a half. Defending his decision to include Ashwin, Gambhir highlighted the importance of a finger-spinner on flat and worn out wickets.

“I think Ashwin is someone who we should always consider because we are looking at conditions in England during that time of the year. Wickets could be flat and worn out. So a finger-spinner can be effective with the ball as well,” he added.

Gambhir selects Indian squad for World Cup 2019

1) Shikhar Dhawan 2) Rohit Sharma 3) KL Rahul 4) Virat Kohli (c) 5) MS Dhoni (wk) 6) Kedar Jadhav 7) Ambati Rayudu 8) Dinesh Karthik (wk) 9) Hardik Pandya 10) Bhuvneshwar Kumar 11) Jasprit Bumrah 12) Mohammed Shami 13) Ravichandran Ashwin 14) Yuzvendra Chahal 15) Kuldeep Yadav

Read some of the latest Twitter reactions from the second ODI match being currently played between New Zealand and India at Mount Maunganui below: