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ICC World Cup 2019: Three Indian players who were unlucky to miss World Cup ticket
India is going into the World Cup with one of the strongest squads, however, there were some exciting players who missed an opportunity to bag the ticket to England
After a lot of speculations, India announced the World Cup squad last month with a few surprise picks. The selection committee headed by MSK Prasad made some unexpected calls, leaving fans as well as players in paradox. The most discussed number 4 spot was handed to an inexperienced bloke while as the inclusion of an extra spinner also raised eyebrows. Although time will tell how they go in the tournament, a few players were surely unlucky to miss out on a spot in the World Cup squad. In this piece, we look at three of them.
Rishabh Pant
The young Rishabh Pant is gifted with some exceptional skills. He remains energetic behind the stumps all the time while he doesn't hesitate in sending even good balls out of the park. The Delhi native displayed some of his heroics in India's tour to Australia, however, he failed to make most of the ODI assignments that followed.
Though considering his distinctive batting style and good wicket-keeping skills, the southpaw would have surely been an exciting candidate for the World Cup. Meanwhile, selectors while briefing Pant's exclusion said that they chose Dinesh Karthik over him because of the experience.
Ambati Rayudu
Not much before World Cup squad announcement, captain Virat Kohli and coach, Ravi Shastri termed Ambati Rayudu as a solution to India's middle-order crises. However, the right-handed batsman was extremely unlucky to miss the bus as all-rounder Vijay Shankar was chosen over him.
Apart from few unimpressive outings in the home series against Australia, Rayudu had scored quite consistently at the number 4. Meanwhile, his inability to accelerate against top oppositions also became a roadblock between him and the World Cup.
Khaleel Ahmed
By including just three mainstream fast-bowlers in the World Cup squad, India surprised almost everyone. Knowing English conditions mostly remain in favour of seamers, many former cricketers criticized this decision of selectors. The left-arm pacer was expected to be India's fourth pacer, however, the addition of an extra spinner cost him his place in the team. Nonetheless, with his unreal run in the Indian Premier League, he largely proved his knack with the ball. Although not part of the squad, Khaleel has also traveled with the team as a standby bowler.
