5 Players who may make it to the Indian World Cup squad on the back of IPL performance

Indian Premier League is the biggest and the toughest T20 competition in the World and the 11th season of the league has already begun. IPL has always been considered by fans as cricketainment with the entertaining aspect often crowding out the cricket part.

While fans may consider it that way players have always viewed IPL as a stepping stone to their national teams and this year too a number of players are displaying their abilities on the field with the aim of making it to their national teams.

A number of national discards in the ODI format of the game are playing in the IPL and with the World Cup coming next year these players are putting their everything on the field to impress the selectors.

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Lokesh Rahul

Lokesh Rahul is one of the most talented batsmen in the world at present and his performance in the Indian Premier League has been a reflection of that. He is definitely a player to watch out for in the next season of International cricket.

Rahul was given multiple opportunities in the Indian ODI side before being dropped for poor performances, but those opportunities weren't given at a specific position in the batting order. He was moved up and down the order to accommodate senior batsmen in the side and in the process he lost his touch in the middle.

This season of IPL is slowly becoming the turning point in this talented player's career. His brilliance has been on full display this year as he has been timing the ball better than any other batsman in the league. His performance in this year's IPL should definitely get him back his spot in the Indian middle order.

Shreyas Iyer

Extra responsibility of captaincy has helped Iyer perform better

Delhi is one of the few teams which is having a mediocre IPL and in order to change its fortunes the team management decided to hand over the captaincy to the young Shreyas Iyer from Gautam Gambhir.

The move has worked wonders for the young man's batting as he has been brilliant with the bat ever since he took over the captaincy mantle. Iyer has become extremely consistent this season and he has been putting impressive performances back to back.

Iyer got a chance in the Indian team in their away series against Sri Lanka and performed brilliantly for the side. He struggled a bit against the South Africans and was later dropped from the team and he wasn't even part of the team which won the Nidadhas Trophy.

Iyer's performance in this year's IPL has been stunning and it is only natural that he gets a chance to play for the country. He can be a brilliant number 4 batsman for the Indian team.

Umesh Yadav

Yadav has been the pick of the Indian bowlers this year

Umesh Yadav is one of the many Indian bowlers who display enormous potential but somehow fail to perform to the level they are capable of. He has always displayed brilliant potential but he always lacked discipline.

This year though has been quite different for Umesh as he has bowled brilliantly in the powerplay overs. Though he is still struggling to bowl in the death overs he has the ability to run through the opposition in the initial overs itself.

Kohli's captaincy has made a huge difference to Yadav's bowling as the captain has given him a free hand and the bowler to is performing according to the captain's expectations. He has improved his bowling brilliantly in Tests and there are signs of improvement in his bowling in the shorter formats of the game as well.

Yadav has attacked batsmen with his raw pace and has rattled a number of batsmen. The next World Cup will be played in England and the Indian team will be looking to use three seamers in the Playing XI and Yadav with his marked improvement in his swing bowling can definitely be a great pick.

Ambati Rayudu

Rayudu is the present Orange cap holder

Ambati Rayudu made his debut for the Indian team in 2013 against Zimbabwe. He tasted decent success as a batsman for the Indian team but with some brilliant talents coming in the relatively old Rayudu lost out.

Rayudu has played for Mumbai Indians for a number of years but his time he was bought by the Chennai Super Kings and Rayudu has taken to his new role of the opener of the Chennai side as a fish would take to the water. He has been phenomenal this year and has performed better than he ever had.

There are two spots which are still vacant in the middle order and there are a number of players who are looking to make that spot their own. Rayudu's stunning form has already earned him the attention of the selectors and it is almost assured that he will be a part of the Indian team for the England tour. If he fires there he may well be a part of the Indian World Cup squad.

Dinesh Karthik

Karthik's captaincy in this IPL has been brilliant

Dinesh Karthik has always been considered as one of the most talented players of his generation. He was considered as the best wicket-keeper of his generation as he made his debut before MS Dhoni even though he was younger to Dhoni and this in itself is an indication of this man's potential.

Karthik has been given a number of opportunities in the Indian setup and has also been tried at different positions but has always failed in the International scene. He then goes back to the domestic circuit and performs brilliantly to return back to the Indian team. The circle has been an endless one for this talented star but it seems to have come to an end of late.

The lad from down South has finally come of age and has started performing to the level that he is capable of. His talent was never in question but his temperament was. In the last two years, he has worked on that aspect and it has paid dividends.

His performance in the Nidadhas trophy was just stunning and it is almost pretty certain that he would be apart of the Indian squad for the 2019 World Cup. He is performing pretty well in the IPL as well but needs to perform in the English conditions to secure his place in the Indian playing XI.