India set to announce WC squad, Prasidh, Tilak and Samson likely to miss out

India's 15-member squad for the Cricket World Cup is set to be announced on Tuesday, with the team management likely to retain the core of the Asia Cup squad. Prasidh Krishna and Tilak Varma are set to miss out, while Axar Patel and Shardul Thakur are likely to retain their places.

Prasidh Krishna and Tilak Varma — the two additional members of India’s 17-member squad along with Sanju Samson, the travelling reserve — are set to miss out on India’s squad for the men’s Cricket World Cup. The 15-member squad is set to be announced on Tuesday, the last day of the deadline to submit the squad.

Barring the trio, all the other 15 squad members of the Asia Cup, are set to lead India’s quest for repeating the heroics of 2011, when Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men lifted the ODI World Cup on home soil.

It is highly unlikely that either R. Ashwin, the veteran off-spinner, or Washington Sundar, the off-spinning-all-rounder, will be able to make a last-minute entry with the team management preferring to strengthen its batting with a reliable option at No. 8.

Axar Patel and Shardul Thakur have been identified as the spin and pace-bowling all-rounders and are set to retain their place for the World Cup.

The Hindu understands that ever since chairman of the selection panel Ajit Agarkar joined the squad in Kandy on August 30, there have been multiple rounds of discussions between him, captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid.

Besides, the chief selector has also been keeping in touch with his colleagues in the selection committee about the fitness status of the recently recovered trio.

Jasprit Bumrah and Shreyas Iyer have shown no signs of discomfort, although the former has travelled to India for paternity leave. K.L. Rahul has also been cleared by the National Cricket Academy’s medical staff in Bengaluru, having recovered from a groin strain he picked up ahead of the Asia Cup.