IPL 2019: The last comeback opportunity for India's star cricketers before the start of the World Cup

With the ICC World Cup 2019 now just a few months away, the Indian team looks settled and geared up to conquer the cricketing world. Over the years, the team management has worked extremely hard to discover the right talent to establish a well-balanced side for the marquee event and fortunately, they have been rewarded with an excellent pool of players.

The selectors in consultation with captain Virat Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri will soon choose the most suitable 15 players amongst the pool to take a shot at the prestigious trophy. However, there are a few optimistic players that will hope against hope to be selected despite not featuring regularly in the national side lately.

With IPL 2019 scheduled just before the World Cup, it gives a great opportunity to some key players to showcase their skills once again and prove themselves worthy of the boarding plane to England this summer. Moreover, some last-minute unfortunate injuries to some key players may actually force the BCCI to look beyond the definite.

At 37, Yuvraj Singh is close to the end of his cricketing career. Unfortunately, his glory days were badly hampered when he was diagnosed with cancer right after being chosen as the Player of the Tournament for his outstanding performance at the ICC World Cup 2011.

Ever since then, the world has not witnessed the same Yuvraj back on the field. But he has been training hard for the upcoming IPL and will hope to make a statement for selection to the World Cup, and end his cricketing journey on a high.

Suresh Raina

Another very experienced warrior, Suresh Raina (32) has been out of the national team since 2015. Though he joined the Men in Blue for the ODI series against England last year to strengthen the shaky middle order, he couldn't impress the selectors and was subsequently sidelined for India’s next tours.

With India’s middle order puzzle still not resolved, Raina will certainly look to perform well at the IPL with both bat and ball to be considered for the mega event.

Ajinkya Rahane

The very same issue of the middle order gives another Indian cricketer, Ajinkya Rahane, an opportunity. Considering the World Cup 2019 will be played in England, and the fact that Rahane is known to play well on bouncy wickets, the selectors could well be tempted to choose him ahead of the others.

However, for that to happen, Rahane has to reinvent himself at the upcoming IPL and play at a faster pace (better strike rate). Unless he does that, he will be deemed too slow for ODI cricket.

Ravichandran Ashwin

Another key player in the current Indian Test team, Ravichandran Ashwin, has not been able to create any magic with the white ball for a few years now. Consequently, he has lost his place to India’s new spin revelations, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, affectionately now known as the ‘Kul-Cha’ duo.

Though Team India has replacements available in the form of Ravindra Jadeja and Krunal Pandya, considering Ashwin's superior bowling expertise over them, he may just be pulled in for the World Cup as a specialist third spinner.

Though the IPL being scheduled just before the World Cup is not a great idea from the players' health perspective, it does give one last outside opportunity to a few deserving cricketing heroes to come back into the team for the mega event. It remains to be seen which, if any, of those players grabs the opportunity with both hands.