BCCI announced the 15 man India squad on 5th September 2023 and many surprising decisions have made the Board of Cricket Council of India a subject of criticism on online social media platforms. Many people are unhappy with the selection of Suryakumar Yadav and KL Rahul over Sanju Samson. However, in this conversation people have forgotten that India is going without a left-arm pacer in the World Cup 2023.
Will the absence of a left arm pacer cost India the World Cup? It is quite possible as left arm pacers have always been among the wickets in ICC events. Mitchell Starc has ruled the past two ODI World Cups with his left arm pace and pacers like Trent Boult and Shaheen Shah Afridi have also shined in the ICC events.
New Zealand has included Trent Boult in their World Cup 2023 squad despite the left arm pacer not having a central contract. Every cricketing nation realises the significance of bringing variation into their ranks and somewhere India have missed a trick. When India won the Cricket World Cup in 2011, Zaheer Khan, a left arm quick was India’s best pacer in the tournament.
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In the 2022 T20I World Cup, India reached semi-final in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh emerged as the highest wicket-taker for India with his left arm pace. Arshdeep definitely lost his way a bit after the World Cup 2022 and started bowling quite a few no balls but he has significantly improved in the past couple of months.
India is missing an X factor in their bowling line-up. Just like India has decided to go with Suryakumar Yadav despite his dismal average in ODIs, India should have gone with Arshdeep Singh in the World Cup 2023 instead of Shardul Thakur. On Indian pitches, taking wickets at the front is going to be crucial and on Siraj’s bad day India will struggle for sure.
Only time will, the correctness of Indian management’s decision but for now it seems that the Indian team have missed a trick by not taking any left arm pacer with them in the 2023 Cricket World Cup.