Sourav Ganguly snubs Yuzvendra Chahal in his 15-member squad for 2023 World Cup

Former captain and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has named his preferred Indian 15 for the 2023 Men's World Cup. It was almost an identical squad to the one picked for the 2023 Asia Cup, only excluding Tilak Varma and Prasidh Krishna. However, he picked both of them as injury reserves.

The 15 included both KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer, who have recently recovered from serious injuries but are yet to prove their match fitness. He also went with two left-arm spinners in Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel with Kuldeep Yadav as the only wrist spinner. Yuzvendra Chahal was named as the third backup.

"If one of the middle-order batters gets unfit, then Tilak Varma [would come in]," Ganguly told Star Sports. "If one of the fast bowlers gets unfit; then Prasidh Krishna; if one of the spinners gets unfit, then Yuzvendra Chahal."

Sourav Ganguly's preferred Indian 15 for 2023 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, and Mohammed Siraj.

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Sourav Ganguly had called for Yuzvendra Chahal, Yashasvi Jaiswal's selection recently

Chahal not being in the former India captain's 15 was interesting. At a public event only four days ago, on August 21, he was informed about some reports that off-spinner Washington Sundar might get a chance ahead of Chahal in the World Cup squad.

"I'll always pick Chahal. I'll always pick wrist spinners," he replied while speaking as the brand ambassador at Casagrand's launch event in Mumbai. "I don't know what the selectors think but I'd always pick wrist spinners."

He was also open to the possibility of young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, who hasn't played an ODI yet, getting a chance for the World Cup.

"You need youth," Ganguly said. "A good team is a mixture of youth and experience. So you need the flamboyance of youth, the fearlessness of youth along with the season campaigners like Rohit, Virat, Rahul, Jadeja and Pandya. You need somebody to just go fearless."

India will kickstart its World Cup campaign on October 8 against Australia in Chennai.