World Cup 2023: Five players from 2019 who can play the tournament and win it for India

The 12th edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup may have ended in disappointment for India, but there are lots of positives that one can take away from the long tournament.

India entered the World Cup as one of the pre-tournament favorites, and they rightly lived up to the hype for most parts of the tournament. As Virat Kohli mentioned, 45 minutes of bad cricket cost them the semi-final against New Zealand.

India played dominant cricket throughout the tourney, and even when the other side had their noses in front, the Indian bowlers brought the team back into the game. Except for a league game against England, and the knockout one against the Kiwis, India dominated their other opponents. Quite fittingly, those were the teams that made it to the finals.

The next ICC WC is set to happen in India in the year 2023. If history is to repeat itself then, as the host country, India should win it as the hosts have won the last three editions; but that is still too far into the future.

In this article, we will look at five players from the 2019 WC squad for India who might realistically still be around 2023, and potentially win it for the Men in Blue.

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Honorable mentions

KL Rahul- (Age 31-2023)

KL Rahul.

KL Rahul has all the talent in the world but has so far not fulfilled his true potential. He had a decent ICC WC 2019, but we will have wait and see if he will be a regular feature in the team four years hence.

Kuldeep Yadav (Age 28-2023) and Yuzvendra Chahal (Age 33-2023)

Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav.

Indian team had invested a lot in these two wrist-spinners and despite a mixed World Cup, the duo have been sensational. The 2023 edition is set to happen in India, and India has no dearth of talent in terms of spinners. So it will interesting to see if these two can stick around till then.

Ravindra Jadeja (Age 34 -2023)

Ravindra Jadeja.

Ravindra Jadeja was a livewire on the field in the tournament even when he was not part of the playing XI and is possibly in the best form of his life.

He almost single-handedly won India the semi-final. If he is still around in 2023, it will be interesting to see how much he has maintained his fitness and attributes that make him a top cricketer right now.

#5 Jasprit Bumrah(Age 29-2023)

Jasprit Bumrah is one of the best death bowlers in the world.

Jasprit Bumrah has quickly risen to prominence to become India's go-to man across all formats. His unique bowling action has paid rich dividends and along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, he forms one of the most dreaded opening bowling pairs in the world. His slower balls and lethal yorkers can deceive even the best batsmen. Bumrah is the pillar of the Indian bowling attack right now and can be a key in India's quest for the title.

His arrival saw India becoming one of the best bowling attacks, and he is one of the few players who can give the Indian Premier League the credit for their successes.

India is lucky to have a player of his ability in prime form and if he is injury-free, then he is a sure-shot to play in the 2023 WC.

#4 Rishabh Pant(Age 25-2023)

Rishabh Pant has a bright future ahead.

India's new first-choice wicket-keeper batsman across formats will most likely be around for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. Rishabh Pant has enough time to fill the big void set to be left by legendary Wicket Keeper MS Dhoni.

Pant was not in the initial 15-member squad for the World Cup, but an unfortunate injury to Shikhar Dhawan meant that the left-hander had to be drafted into the squad, and he was also part of the playing eleven in the latter half of the tournament.

He had good starts whenever he got a chance with the bat, but was not able to capitalize on them and couldn't get past fifty even once in four outings. Even in the semi-final, he was looking good but failed to get a big score.

Four years is a long time, and he will be a much better keeper-batsman than he is right now and may become a vital cog in India's batting line-up.

#3 Hardik Pandya (Age 29-2023)

Hardik Pandya in action for India.

Hardik Pandya can change the game on its head on any given day, but he has not been able to perform consistently for India. Pandya has been given a lot of chances as evident from the fact that he has played close to 100 matches across formats for India in just three years from his debut.

Hardik is the rare all-rounder that India has been looking for over the years, and will be a much-improved player than he already is by the time 2023 ICC World Cup arrives. His returns in the 2019 edition were decent but he could not do what Ben Stokes or a James Neesham did for their respective teams. Hardik took 10 wickets and scored just over 200 runs in nine outings.

But he has improved his batting a lot and is gradually becoming a good bowler which is a good sign for India, and if needs to be around till the next WC, he needs to overcome his tendency to injure his back.

#2 Rohit Sharma(36 years-2023)

Rohit Sharma, the 'Hitman'.

At present, it seems Rohit Sharma can do no wrong with the bat; he is scoring runs at will. His performance in the recently-concluded World Cup was so good that many are already hailing him as one of the greatest one-day batsmen of all time.

When Shikhar Dhawan got injured, he took the responsibility in his hands and made sure the left-hander was never really missed till the semi-final. He was on a record-breaking spree, scoring 100s at will, starting from South Africa where he played an uncharacteristic innings in India's opening game on a difficult pitch.

From there on, there was no stopping the Hitman as he scored as many as five centuries from India's nine completed games which is quite staggering. By the time 2023 comes, he will be 36 years old so there is a great chance that he will be still around. With the tournament happening in India, he might just become an unstoppable force.

#1 Virat Kohli (Age 34-2023)

Virat Kohli.

One of the greatest limited-overs batsmen of this generation is one of the players who will definitely be a part of the next edition of ICC World Cup.

Virat Kohli, as a batsman has been in phenomenal form since eternity, and has been consistently scoring runs for fun against every opposition in any given condition. He would love to continue his dream run with the bat for a few more years.

For the first time, Kohli led the side in a World Cup, and he captained a bowling attack which is formidable, a batting line-up that is as good as the world's best on its day, a good fielding unit to support, but which ultimately fell short at the second-last hurdle just like the 2015 edition in Australia. He will have time to get over this defeat and come back stronger in four years.