Good news for Rishabh Pant and Ambati Rayudu; named among India World Cup squad standbys

After a bad two days for Rishabh Pant and Ambati Rayudu, there is finally a good news for them. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) named both of them as standbys for India’s World Cup squad on Wednesday. Royal Challengers Bangalore’s pacer Navdeep Saini was also name among the standbys for World Cup.

As per International Cricket Council (ICC) requirement, every team should have three standbys in case any player from the 15-member squad gets injured. Pant and Rayudu’s exclusion from the World Cup squad stirred a major controversy among cricket pundits. Dinesh Karthik was chosen over Rishabh Pant and Vijay Shankar over Ambati Rayudu.

Deepak Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan will be travelling with the team as net bowlers but they are not designated standbys. In case of replacement their first choice of player would be Rishabh Pant, Ambati Rayudu or Navdeep Saini.

India are going as favorites into the World Cup as they are ranked world number two in ICC one-day internationals rankings, behind England.

The 2019 Cricket World Cup will take place in England and Wales starting from May 30. The first match of the tournament will be between the host England and South Africa. India will also play their first match against the Proteas on June 5. The much awaited game of the tournament will be held on June 16 between India and arch rival Pakistan.

India’s World Cup squad: Rohit Sharma (VC), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (C), KL Rahul, MS Dhoni (WK), Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Vijay Shankar, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuveneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja

Also read: Watch: This is how Vijay Shankar celebrated his World Cup selection against Chennai Super Kings