India's World Cup squad: All boxes ticked, except No. 4

In a surprising move, the national selection committee led by MSK Prasad picked Vijay Shankar, and not Ambati Rayudu, as its choice to bat at the crucial No. 4 position in the ICC Cricket World Cup in the United Kingdom from May 30 to July 14.

What wasn't surprising, though, was the inclusion of the experienced Dinesh Karthik at the expense of the young and dashing Rishabh Pant as the reserve wicketkeeper to MS Dhoni.

In one of the fairest selections by Prasad and Co., the Indian team for the World Cup has all bases covered. So much so that even within the squad of 15, they have named players who could step into the playing 11 in case of injury to any of the first-choice players.

"This is one of the most balanced sides we have produced," said Prasad here on Monday after announcing the 15 who will try and bring back the World Cup to India.

Rayudu hard done by

However, in picking the 28-year-old Shankar for the two-down position, the selectors have been unfair on the Hyderabad middle-order batsman Rayudu, who was given umpteen chances at this position in the lead-up to the World Cup.

Rayudu was given to bat at No. 4 in the 10 of India's last 13 ODIs that were regarded as the dress rehearsal for the quadrennial event.

Rayudu's average at No. 4 in 24 of his 50 ODI innings is 41.66. In his last 10 innings, Rayudu averaged 30.87 and scored only one fifty. Perhaps, inconsistency is what went against Rayudu, who was even dropped for the last two ODIs against Australia at home.

Rayudu should consider himself unlucky. Perhaps, there is something more than meets the eye with his exclusion. It was last year that the 33-year-old failed a YoYo test before the ODI tour of England. And now, Shankar has pipped him for the No. 4 slot.

Shankar, though, has gone in at Nos 5, 6 and 7 in his five ODI innings for India. It will for the first time that he will be batting higher, at No. 4, in the World Cup. That said, Shankar has been batting at No. 3 and 4 for his IPL team Sunrisers Hyderabad this season. He may not be totally new to the No. 4 position as he has been batting in the top-order for Tamil Nadu regularly.

Captain Virat Kohli also has an option in Kedar Jadhav at No. 4 in the World Cup, but the first preference has to be Shankar.

India captain Virat Kohli walks out after the selection committee meeting to pick the World Cup squad in Mumbai on Monday. Kohli attended the meet before turning up for RCB in the evening at Wankhede —Salman Ansari/DNA

'Shankar 3-dimensional'

"After the ICC Champions Trophy (in 2017) we tried quite a few middle-order batsmen that also includes Karthik. We also tried Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey. We gave a few more chances to Rayudu, but what Vijay Shankar offers is three-dimensional," Prasad said.

"Apart from his batting, he can bowl. If the conditions are overcast, which the team may encounter in England, he may bowl a bit. He is also a fantastic fielder.

"We are looking at him to bat at No. 4 to begin with, but there are options in Karthik and Jadhav. So, nothing went against Rayudu, it's just that things went in favour of Vijay Shankar. He scored in bowling and fielding ahead of Rayudu," he added.

Shankar also doubles up as a second seaming all-rounder to Hardik Pandya, who has only recently recovered from lower back stiffness that kept him out of the home ODI series against Australia before the IPL.

"Hardik's back injury is not as bad as it is. As a precaution, he was given rest for the Australia series," said Prasad.

DK better 'keeper

The second talking point is going with Karthik over Pant.

While it may be argued that Pant gives a left-handed batting option in the lower middle-order and can change the course of the game with his big-hitting abilities, his wicket-keeping is still a work in progress, as agreed by Prasad.

And, more importantly, the regularity with which he has not helped his team — be it for India or for his IPL franchise Delhi Capitals — cross the line. Often, Pant has thrown away his wicket after getting the start and not finished the matches.

"Only one of them (Karthik or Pant) will play only if Dhoni is injured. We had to consider who the best guy to handle pressure was. At a crucial juncture of the tournament, if Dhoni is injured, wicketkeeping also matters. Hence Dinesh Karthik. Also, under pressure, we have seen Karthik finishing matches and that has gone in his favour," Prasad said.

But for these two players, the rest were all automatic choices. The selectors look at KL Rahul as purely a reserve opener to Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma.

Rahul was an automatic choice for stand-in opener once he was available. His selection had nothing to do with the glorious form that he is in for KXIP this IPL.

"This squad is close to the side we picked for the Australia home series. We did not consider the IPL form," said Prasad.

Luxury of 7 bowlers

Prasad boasted of the Indian team fielding as many as seven bowlers in its playing 11. Apart from the top three — Sharma, Dhawan, Kohli —and the Dhoni, the rest are either specialist bowlers or those who can chip in.

Apart from the three specialist seamers (Md Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar) and one spinner (Kuldeep Yadav gets preference over Yuzvendra Chahal), there's Pandya and Shankar. And, Jadhav can chip in with his off-spin variations. There is also a case for left-arm spinning all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.

Dream come true, says Shankar

Vijay Shankar said making it to the World Cup squad has been a dream come true. “I am extremely elated to be in the Indian World Cup team. This is like a dream come true. We have a few World Cup-winning team members here at SRH (Sunrisers Hyderabad) and I have spoken to them to understand what it feels like to play in a World Cup and then go on to win it. I have learnt a lot from them on the ways to manage pressure at such a large scale event,” he said.

N ZONE

7 No. of players in this squad who were also part of the 2015 World Cup squad: MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami

PACERS TO ASSIST 

The BCCI also announced that fast bowlers Navdeep Saini, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed and Deepak Chahar “will assist the Indian team in their World Cup preparation” in the UK