Chennai: Call it a surprise: Tamilnadu’sDineshKarthik and VijayShankar have been included in the 15-member squad for the World Cup to be played in England this June.
Addressing mediapersons, chairman of selectors, M S K Prasad, said today, “K L Rahul has been included as third opener. DK will play only if Dhoni is injured.”
He said, “What was discussed was VijayShankar will bat at No. 4.”
On Karthik’s selection, he said, “We have seen Karthik finish matches under pressure and that is what went in his favour.”
About VijayShankar being preferred over Rayudu, he said, “After the Champions Trophy, we tried quite a few people [at No. 4]. We gave a few more chances to Rayudu. What VijayShankar brings is three-dimensional.”
Dinesh Karthik
Sadly, Rishabh Pant could not find a place in the squad.
The squad: ViratKohli (c), RohitSharma (vc), ShikharDhawan, K L Rahul, VijayShankar, M S Dhoni (wk), KedarJadhav, DineshKarthik, YuzvendraChahal, KuldeepYadav, BhuvneshwarKumar, JaspritBumrah, HardikPandya, RavindraJadeja and MohammedShami
