Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir believes that the Indian cricket team is missing a trick in their choice of personnel for the ICC World Cup 2019. Gambhir leaves that India should include four seamers keeping the English conditions in mind and that can be a problem for the side in the tournament.

“If there is something missing in the squad, India lacks a fourth seamer. It is a big and long tournament. You have three seamers. Hardik and Vijay are your all-rounders. That’s why I picked Navdeep Saini as fourth seamer because in those conditions you need someone as a back up to your three seamers,” Gambhir told TOI.

India opted for three specialist fast bowlers - Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami - along with two part time options in the form of all-rounders Vijay Shankar and Hardik Pandya.

Gambhir hoped that this India squad is better than 2011 and he also went on to praise the current India bowling attack by terming them ‘far better’ than the attack of 2011 and 2015.

“This is a better squad than 2011 and I really wish this is the better squad. You can’t compare eras. 2011 will be different to 2015, 2019 will be different to 2015 and I hope and believe that the 2019 squad is the better squad. All I want to say is that I don’t like comparing eras and one shouldn’t do that. The bowling attack of the 2019 World Cup is far better than the ones in 2011 and 2015,” Gambhir added.

Earlier, Gambhir said that Ambati Rayudu’s omission from India’s World Cup squad after just three failures is “heartbreaking” but there should be no debate on Rishabh Pant’s exclusion as he didn’t grab his chances.

Veteran Dinesh Karthik being favoured over Pant has been roundly criticised with Sunil Gavaskar calling it a surprising move. But the hero of the 2007 World T20 and 2011 World Cup final said Rayudu not making the cut is the most unfortunate bit about the squad announced on Monday. “I think there should be no debate about Rishabh Pant’s exclusion but more about Ambati Rayudu,” Gambhir said.

“It is very, very unfortunate that someone averaging 48 in white-ball cricket and is only 33 has been left out. That for me is more heartbreaking than any other selection decision.”

(With agency inputs)

First Published: Apr 17, 2019 19:43 IST