Breaking: World Cup team finalised, Sanju Samson misses out | Cricket News

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) senior national selection committee on late Saturday night picked the 15-member squad for the upcoming ICC ODI World Cup with KL Rahul finding a place in the team as Sanju Samson missed out.
The selection committee chairman Ajit Agarkar flew to Sri Lanka where he met Indian captain Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid and picked the squad. The meeting took place after the India vs Pakan Asia Cup game in Kandy which was washed out after the first innings.
Along with Samson, Tilak Varma and Prasidh Krishna, who are in Sri Lanka at the moment for the aforementioned Asia Cup, also didn’t find a place in the World Cup squad.

The team will be led Rohit Sharma and after his great showing with the bat in the middle-order, Ishan Kishan has also found a place in the squad.
Apart from captain Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav will be spearheading India’s batting line-up in the multi-nation tournament.
Allrounders Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Shardul Thakur also made it to the squad as the selection committee and team management gave emphasis on batting depth.
In the bowling department, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj will be leading the pace attack while spinner Kuldeep Yadav also made it into the squad.
The selection committee also discussed Rahul’s fitness and after the medical team gave a green signal, he was included in the squad. Rahul has been hitting the nets and has batted for several hours back at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. It is also learnt that he will be flown to Lanka to join Indian team in Asia Cup.
The BCCI who had a deadline of September 5 to submit its final World Cup squad to the International Cricket Council (ICC), wanted to keep its selection committee meet on the evening of September 4. But after the medical team cleared Rahul, it is understood that they felt there was no point in waiting for a day.
Rahul, who has been a mainstay in the starting XI and will probably also don the gloves in the World Cup, had undergone surgery on his right thigh and has been out for the past three and half months.
During a press conference a few weeks ago, Agarkar had said that Rahul had picked up a niggle and that’s why Sanju Samson was picked as a back-up option.Most Read
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“Shreyas is being declared completely fit while KL Rahul has picked up a niggle. It is not his original injury and that’s why Sanju is travelling with us. We are all expecting him to be fit, if not at the start of the Asia Cup but maybe the second and third game but he is well on track. They are two important players and since we are not picking the team for the World Cup teams till September 5, it gives us some time,” Agarkar had told the reporters in New Delhi after Asia Cup squad selection.

Even if Rahul recovers in time, will he be fit enough to keep? Agarkar was again ‘hopeful,’ saying, “Obviously, Rahul plays as a wicketkeeper-batter. The attempt is to have him fit from our first game. The niggle is a small setback for Rahul but we all are hopeful that he will be okay. His role is as a keeper-batter. Needless to say he is a very important player.”
Agarkar had already hinted that the selection committee will be picking the World Cup squad from its Asia Cup 18 member squad and as expected there were no major surprises in store.