Former India opener Abhinav Mukund has revealed his preferred 15-member India squad for the 2027 ODI World Cup, offering a mix of experienced campaigners and emerging stars following India’s recent 2-1 ODI series defeat to England. Sharing his picks on ESPN Cricinfo’s YouTube channel, Mukund retained faith in the senior core while making a few notable selection calls.

Mukund backed Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli to form India’s top three, underlining the importance of experience at the top of the order. However, he made the surprising decision to leave out Yashasvi Jaiswal from the main squad despite the young opener’s impressive performances in recent months.

For the middle order, Mukund selected KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan as the two wicketkeeping options, alongside Shreyas Iyer. His all-round department featured Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar, while veteran Ravindra Jadeja missed out on the projected squad.

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Kuldeep Yadav was the only specialist spinner included in Mukund’s 15, with Varun Chakaravarthy failing to make the cut. The pace attack was built around Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana and Gurnoor Brar. Notably, experienced pacers Mohammed Shami and Arshdeep Singh, along with young quick Prince Yadav, were excluded from the final squad.

Mukund also identified five players who could still force their way into India’s World Cup plans over the next year. His “maybe” list included opening batters Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad, both of whom have recently registered ODI centuries.

Batting all-rounders Nitish Kumar Reddy and Shivam Dube also featured among the potential contenders, while left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh completed the five-player shortlist.

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At the same time, Mukund ruled out several players from contention, suggesting that T20 specialists such as Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma and Vaibhav Suryavanshi are unlikely to feature in India’s ODI World Cup plans. The 2027 ODI World Cup is scheduled to be held across South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia from October 4 to November 21, with India expected to finalise its core squad over the next 12 months.

Abhinav Mukund picked India’s squad: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Gurnoor Brar