How should India build their squad going into 2023 World Cup?

It is a dream of every cricket fan to witness their national team lifting the World Cup. As we all know, the ICC Men’s World Cup will likely arrive this year in 2023. As the host country, India is worried about this event as the temperament has already started growing for the 2023 World Cup. The last time the country lifted the 50-over’s championship title was in 2011 at Wankhede, Mumbai. That time too, India hosted the competition. So, a question arises: How should BCCI build their squad that will take part in the next ODI World Cup?

Process before ICC 2023 World Cup:

After the drastic failure in ICC T20 World Cup, the team and the management faced many criticisms. The unsuccessful T20 World Cup campaign has barely been reviewed afterward. Even now, a bigger tournament is waiting at the doorstep- a 50-over men’s World Cup in October and November next year at home. India is not yet officially on the road to choosing a suitable squad for the 2023 World Cup ODI because they don’t currently have national selectors consulted with the team management. The entire autonomous body decides the direction the team will take. However, 21 ODI matches have been scheduled, a few of them before the World Cup started. Now the overall focus is on the preparation and selection of a good and fittest team for the big event, honestly.

Team selection:

The team India has played only 39 ODI games since the last 2019 World Cup. Management just tried 44 players during the period. Only six regular players have played 20 or more because of either injuries or management’s instructions.

Players	No. of ODI matches
Rohit Sharma	18
Rishabh Pant	18
Yuzevendra Chahal	18
Ravindra Jadeja	18
Jasprit Bumrah	14
Hardik Pandya	12

So, it is quite simple to understand that India hasn’t yet zeroed in on the rough team they would like to carry to the next World Cup. On the contrary, plenty of new options have arisen. Very soon, we may get a clearer picture of how the management should move. But, indeed, the selectors are not going to have it friendly.

Batting orders:

According to the updates, the management is not supposed to change the entire batting order for the 2023 World Cup. But also, one of their intentions is to try the young generation with tempting situations. However, the top orders, middle orders, all-rounders, spinners, and seamers for the next World Cup have mostly enlisted their names.

Top Order batters in ODI:

Although we could blindly trust the three top-order batters before, in the T-20 World Cup series, we have seen the powerplay run rate decrease from 5.41 to 4.97. In the coming matches, India needs to examine Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli to determine whether they are growing fit for the format in the next World Cup or if the management should start finding alternates.

Batters	Innings	Runs	Average	Strick rate
Shikhar Dhawan	29	1,192	46	83
Rohit Sharma	17	718	45	96
Virat Kohli	24	1,042	45	91
Subhman Gill	10	563	70	106
Prithvi Shaw	06	189	32	114
Ishan Kishan	09	477	53	112

Middle Order batters in ODI:

The management also observes the middle-order batters.

Batters	Innings	Runs	Average	Strick rate
KL Rahul	11	603	67	109
Shreyas Iyer	22	928	49	99
Rishabh Pant	15	613	44	114
Hardik Pandya	10	429	48	116
Suryakumar Yadav	12	340	34	99

The Board also gives chances to some youths like Deepak Hooda, Sanju Samson, Rajat Patidar, and Rahul Tripathi.

All-rounders in ODI:

A few all-rounders in the ODI format are set on the list. They are likely to be observed by the BCCI management before preparing the final list.

Allrounders	matches	Runs	Strick rate	Wickets	Economy rate
Ravindra Jadeja	18	335	95	13	5.4
Axar Patel	6	92	137	8	4.2
Washington Sundar	5	57	76	7	4.8
Shahbaz Ahmed	3	0	0	3	4.8

Spinners and Fast bowlers for 2023 World Cup:

The spinners and pace bowlers who are the target of the management are Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bumrah, Md Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, and Arshdeep Singh. Among them, Kuldeep has played most of the ODI matches, but Chahal holds most of the wickets that are 34. Chahal also holds the highest economy rate, which is 5.6, and Kuldeep Yadav comes second in the list with a 5.4 eco rate.