India go into the World Cup as Asia Cup champions

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India go into the Cricket World Cup with the weight of expectation from the nation on their shoulders, and as hosts that pressure has never been higher.

India fans demand a lot from their side, and will expect them to perform when their tournament gets underway on 8 October against Australia at Chennai.

While some countries have yet to confirm their squad lists for the tournament, India were among the earliest to confirm their 15-strong squad for the tournament, but they could still make changes as the ICC’s final deadline is not until September 28.

Rohit Sharma will lead the side for the first time in an ODI World Cup, having taken over the white-ball captaincy from Virat Kohli in December 2021.

Kohli stepped down from the T20 captaincy, but was then stripped of his role as one-day skipper a month later, with Sharma then also taking charge of the Test team.

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Under Kohli, India reached the semi-finals of the World Cup in 2017, and in the most recent white-ball competition, the T20 World Cup in 2022, they were knocked out by England at the same stage.

With the Narendra Modi Stadium and its 134,000 capacity dedicated as the venue for the final, India will be hoping to go one step better this time around.

In terms of the squad, the main standpoint was the inclusion of KL Rahul, who sustained a thigh injury during the IPL earlier this year, but recovered in time to take part in the final four matches of the recent Asia Cup.

India squad:

Rohit Sharma (captain)

Shubman Gill

Virat Kohli

Shreyas Iyer

KL Rahul

Ishan Kishan

Suryakumar Yadav

Hardik Pandya

Ravindra Jadeja

Axar Patel

Shardul Thakur

Jasprit Bumrah

Kuldeep Yadav

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