BCCI today announced the 15-man squad for World Cup 2019. KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya, who missed a lot of matches in early 2019 due to ‘Koffee with Karan’ controversy, were selected in the squad. Vijay Shankar made his way to the squad after some notable knocks in recent matches.
There were few players who were in discussion to make up for the squad, but narrowly missed their chances due to the tough competition of selection. Here are the four players who narrowly missed their World Cup call in the Indian squad.
Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant, who is a wicketkeeper batsman, narrowly missed his chances for the World Cup 2019. Pant had a successful tour in Australia and he was also backed by many foreign cricketers to be included in World Cup squad as a backup wicketkeeper. However, Pant could not perform well in ODIs and hence his selection was affected.
Ambati Rayudu
The right-handed batsman impressed everyone with his magnificent performance during end of last year and early this year. He almost fixed his no.4 spot after smashing 93 in a match against New Zealand, when India suffered a top-order fallout. Rayudu, however, could not follow up this innings with good performances later and lost his place for the World Cup 2019 as well.
Ajinkya Rahane
Ajinkya Rahane could have been a part of World Cup 2019. The Mumbai cricketer is one of the fine batsmen that India has. Rahane has played some great knocks in overseasland, but his inability to perform consistently in ODIs affected his World Cup call.
Umesh Yadav
With ability of bowling 140+ speed, Umesh Yadav could have been a good option in England. Yadav has been part of ODIs for long time but his form recently dropped in early 2019. With him being not able to give his best with the ball, he was not selected as the 4th pacer in the Indian team for World Cup 2019.