Former Indian opener, Gautam Gambhir recently conferred with the prestigious Padma Shri. He also revealed his predicted 15-member Indian squad for the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. While the squad has the usual suspects, the one name that might strike a difference with fellow cricket followers is that Gambhir feels the veteran spinner R Ashwin should be part of the Indian team in place of Ravindra Jadeja.
Gambhir’s prediction comes a few days after he had urged selectors to give Ashwin a chance in the ODI setup explaining that his deliveries will prove handy on the ‘flat and worn out’ pitches of England in July during World Cup 2019.
Describing his squad, Gautam said, “Both wrist-spinners (Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal) have done well in the last one year. But I still feel that R Ashwin is somebody we should look at. Obviously, a quality off-spinner is a quality off-spinner. I’ve always believed that a quality spinner is a quality spinner – irrespective of whether he is a wrist-spinner or a finger-spinner. I think R Ashwin is someone who we should always consider because we are looking at conditions in England during that time of the year. Wickets could be flat and worn out. So a finger-spinner can be effective with the ball as well.”
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However, Gambhir didn’t find the need of Ravindra Jadeja in the squad despite the fact that the southpaw recently made an impressive return to the ODI format in the Asia Cup 2018 and followed it up with a brilliant performance in the final two Tests against Australia. And in the absence of Hardik Pandya, Jadeja can provide the team both with the bat and with his fielding prowess as well.
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Gambhir hanged his boots from all forms of cricket in December 2018 and he has also selected Shami as the third seamer in place of young Khaleel Ahmed. Shami did prove his worth in the first ODI against New Zealand where he had finished with figures of 3 for 19 en route to becoming the fastest Indian bowler to 100 ODI wickets.
The one other player that failed to find a place in Gambhir’s predicted squad is Rishabh Pant. Despite repeated assurance by the Indian selection panel regarding the youngster being part of the team’s World Cup mix, Gambhir had said that the performance of MS Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik leaves lesser opportunity for Pant to prove his worth.
