India at the 2023 Cricket World Cup: Team Preview

As is often the case, India will start the World Cup as one of the favourites, more so because this is a home World Cup, and one of the hosts have won each of the last three editions. Squad-wise and form-wise, India look like a million bucks at the moment. R Ashwin’s late entry into the squad in place of the injured Axar Patel may cause a few jitters, but despite that, the team has all the ingredients to go all the way.

India ODI World Cup history

The landscape of cricket changed when India won the 1983 World Cup. Since then, they have co-hosted three editions, qualified for the final twice, and won the event once. Their last two World Cup campaigns ended in the semi-finals after largely cruising through the league stages. At home, India would hope to rectify that and repeat their heroics of 2011 to lift their third World Cup trophy.

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India at the 2023 Cricket World Cup: Full squad

Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, R Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav.

Captain: Rohit Sharma

Coach: Rahul Dravid

Wisden Cricket Monthly’s Most Valuable Player: Rohit Sharma

Can Rohit follow in the footsteps of Dhoni and lift the World Cup trophy on home soil? After a decade without a global white-ball trophy, the pressure is on. But much like his World Cup-winning predecessor, India’s skipper seems to rise serenely above it. Perhaps not quite the unstoppable force with the bat of four years ago, when he hit a record-breaking five centuries at the 2019 World Cup, Rohit still remains a master of the 50-over format and has an unrivalled record in India (averaging 58 with a strike rate of 100).

Players to watch: Shubman Gill

Twelve years ago, the baton had passed from an ageing Sachin Tendulkar to a young Kohli, vastly different in styles but proud owners of two all-time great ODI careers. This year could see Kohli passing on that baton himself.

Shubman Gill is already hot property in ODIs. Indian cricket keeps throwing up new batting stars: some wither away, others stick on for longer. Gill, in an everchanging field of fresh pretenders and new talents, seems singularly equipped for the long run.

Read the piece on Shubman Gill here.

India at the 2023 Cricket World Cup: Predicted XI

Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya (vc), Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

India at the 2023 Cricket World Cup: Full fixtures list

October 8: India v Australia, Chennai, 2 pm
October 11: India v Afghanistan, New Delhi, 2 pm
October 14: India v Pakistan, Ahmedabad, 2 pm
October 19: India v Bangladesh, Pune, 2 pm
October 22: India v New Zealand, Dharamsala, 2 pm
October 29: India v England, Lucknow, 2 pm
November 2: India v Sri Lanka, Mumbai, 2 pm
November 5: India v South Africa, Kolkata, 2 pm
November 12: India v Netherlands, Bengaluru, 2 pm

A full preview of the 2023 World Cup appears in issue 71 of Wisden Cricket Monthly.