India just concluded the three-game ODI series against Afghanistan, where the Men in Blue clinched the series by 3-0. Despite Virat Kohli's absence, the middle-order looked intact with Ishan Kishan emerging as a solid option and skipper Shubman Gill scoring his first ODI hundred as captain in the fifty-over format of the game.
Big challenge for Shubman Gill and Gautam Gambhir
The Shubman-led side will prepare themselves for the upcoming ICC ODI Cricket World Cup in 2027. The marquee tournament will be jointly-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. The tournament is scheduled to take place between October 4 and November 21 in 2027 and this will mark the return of the ODI World Cup in the African Continent for the first time since 2003, where the Sourav Ganguly-led Indian side faced defeat in the final against mighty Australia.
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India last won the ODI title in 2011 under the captaincy of MS Dhoni defeating Sri Lanka in the final at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. It will be interesting to see what kind of team combinations head coach Gautam Gambhir opts for as there is a lot of speculation going around the future of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
Devajit Saikia opens up on Indian team's preparations
In an interaction with IANS, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia has revealed that the board has started making a blue-print for the marquee tournament, which is going to be a big assignment for head coach Gautam Gambhir.
Saikia believes that the Indian team have ample ODI cricket lined-up to prepare themselves and identify a strong squad for the tournament, which is set to start in October 2027, starting with the upcoming three-game ODI series against England, scheduled from 14th to 19th July.
The selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar named India's 15-member squad for the ODI series against the Three Lions. The squad was selected on the expected lines as Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah came back, while Harshit Rana also found a spot in the team. However, youngsters like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Prince Yadav and Harsh Dubey weren't picked despite appearing in the home ODI series against Afghanistan.
The BCCI secretary further claimed that the preparations are being undertaken in close consultation with the selection committee and the team's support staff, with all the concerned parties working hard to assemble the strongest squad for the marquee tournament.
“The selectors are on board with the support staff and the head coach," said Saikia.
India's squad for ODI series vs England
Shubman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (subject to fitness), Shreyas Iyer (Vice-Captain), KL Rahul (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Gurnoor Brar.