Zaheer Khan selects Indian squad for World Cup 2019: Former Indian fast bowler has made a few surprising decisions in his squad.

There is no hiding to the fact that every passing day and match brings us closer to the the sight of the probable Indian team for ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. With only six ODIs remaining before the tournament for India, any out-of-the-box performance is likely to get noticed and might also make the nod.

While India were not able to finalize on a couple of positions in the ODI line-up till last year, convincing performance by a few players this year has made their work easy. Having said that, the team management has now given the impression of experimenting in a bid to not miss any combination before the world event.

During his appearance on cricbuzz.com, former India fast bowler Zaheer Khan put forward his probable Indian squad for the World Cup. While Zaheer made one brave change to the squad, he also kept a couple of spots to be open for discussion in the future.

Laying emphasis on X-factor, Zaheer didn’t shy away from picking wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant in his squad. While he kept current middle-order pair of Ambati Rayudu and Dinesh Karthik in limbo, he was certain of taking Pant to England.

“You need that X-factor of Rishabh Pant. I know that he is not part of the squad. Because of what he has done in the two innings which he has played at the Test level, he has that ability to provide the X-factor or that power to finish off the innings.

“He can be crucial in days like these [Hamilton ODI]. If Hardik [Pandya] and Pant put up a partnership, you know that partnership will come at a very fast pace. At times when you have wickets down, you need to counterattack. You need players to do that and I have a concern regarding whether Karthik is such a player,” Zaheer was quoted as saying.

The 40-year old further opined that he will pick only two out of Rayudu, Karthik, Lokesh Rahul and a fourth specialist fast bowler. Citing Rayudu’s ability to open the batting, Zaheer gave hints of picking him in his squad.

Zaheer selects Indian squad for World Cup 2019

1) Rohit Sharma (vc) 2) Shikhar Dhawan 3) Virat Kohli (c) 4) MS Dhoni (wk) 5) Ambati Rayudu / Dinesh Karthik 6) Kedar Jadhav 7) Hardik Pandya 8) Bhuvneshwar Kumar 9) Kuldeep Yadav 10) Yuzvendra Chahal 11) Jasprit Bumrah 12) Ravindra Jadeja 13) Mohammad Shami 14) Rishabh Pant 15) Lokesh Rahul / Fast bowler

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