5 Indian Players likely to miss out on the 2019 World Cup

With the biggest tournament in world cricket - The ICC Cricket World cup just a year away, every nation is grinding out in the middle to find that perfect balance in their squad which could lead them to glory at Lords come July 14th, 2019. And so is Team India. This India setup under Virat Kohli is expected to achieve great success at the World Cup, however, the selectors do know that they need to be certain that they build a well-rounded unit that has the ability to step up and meet those expectations.

Unfortunately, though, only 15 players would be on the plane to England. Thus, there are a few Team India regulars that might just not get that big ticket to the World Cup.

Heres looking at 5 players who might miss out on being in the India Squad for the Summit tournament.

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#1 Manish Pandey

Manish Pandey burst onto the cricketing scene in 2009 at the second edition of the Indian Premier League held in South Africa. The right-hander from Karnataka smashed a brilliant 100 playing for RCB. Soon, he was prized to be the next big thing in Indian cricket, but somehow the youngster got lost in the shadows of his counterparts who were more consistent in their performances than him.

With the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma emerging up the ranks, Manish Pandey could never find a permanent spot in the Indian side owing to a few low scoring seasons and as per the experts he always had a few visible technical difficulties against the moving ball.

Until recently, Manish did finally get a string of chances with the Indian limited-overs team. Even though he scored a hundred in Australia, the performances have been few and far away. A poor IPL season and an exclusion from the ODI setup after a continued struggle with the Indian side might just have made it unlikely for him to get a spot in the squad for the World Cup that is supposed to be played in conditions where the ball does dart a bit.

#2 Ajinkya Rahane

Ajinkya Rahane was a core member of the squad when India were on their last world cup expedition in 2015. However, lately, he has fallen out of favour as far as the Indian selectors are concerned. Ajinkya has often been perceived to be best equipped only as an opening batsman in white ball cricket. There has always been doubts over his ability to rotate the strike as well as up the scoring rate in the middle overs.

He might find it very difficult to sneak through the already strong opening trio in Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Kl Rahul. Since he is not perceived to be efficient enough in the middle order, Ajinkya probably would not be on the fight to England next year.

#3 Ravichandran Ashwin

R Ashwin had been the leader of the Indian spin attack for quite a while now, but ever since the defeat in the finals of the champions trophy for India in 2017, the offie has found it difficult to even find a spot in the Indian limited-overs squad. There are no doubts over his match-winning abilities in the longest format of the game and even though the offie is trying to reinvent different delivers into his arsenal, with the recent emergence of young spinners in Kuldeep Yada and Yuzvendra Chahal in limited overs cricket, Ashwin has fallen out of favour with Indian selectors. Both Kuldeep and Chahal have been exceptional in limited overs cricket.

The spin twins have brought in a new variation to the Indian teams bowling setup and with the English conditions suiting wrist spin more than conventional spin, both Chahal and Kuldeep are expected to get the nod ahead of R Ashwin.

#4 Ravindra Jadeja

Ravindra Jadeja's case is pretty similar to R Ashwin's. He was a definite starter in the playing eleven up until a year back. However, with his bowling perceived to be a bit too predictable for One-day cricket, the left arm spinner couldn't deliver the same goods with the ball in ODI cricket as he has been doing in test cricket.

Ravindra Jadeja's all-round skills have also not been unto the mark in recent times, with him not being able to contribute enough with the bat. In conditions where the pitches would not be assisting spin bowling too much, Ravindra Jadeja's effectiveness as a left-arm orthodox spin could well be neutralized.

#5 Ambati Rayudu

Ambati has had a dream IPL 2018 for Chennai Super Kings. He scored a truckload of runs and was rewarded with a spot in the Indian ODI squad for England. However, he could not really tick one final box, the Yo-Yo test. This fitness test is the new pre-requisite to guarantee a spot in Virat's team. Even though the batsmen from Hyderabad has been in breathtaking form with the willow, his inability to prove desired fitness has jeopardized his chances.

Although Rayudu still has a pretty decent chance of making it to the India squad, however with India trying a number of different players in the middle order and the margin for error being very less, if given another chance, Ambati Rayudu would need to make sure he clears the yo-yo or else he might well be looked over by the selectors and fail to make the Indian team for the World Cup.