Former Indian wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik has picked India’s pace battery for the 2027 ODI World Cup. Karthik picked Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh as the four fast bowlers in India’s squad for the ODI showpiece.
Bumrah will be India’s pack leader but Mohammed Siraj hasn’t played consistently in the ODI format. Karthik highlighted that Rana can provide some runs while batting at number eight in ODIs but the Delhi pacer has troubled by injury woes in the recent past. Furthermore, Karthik observed that Singh will provide a left-arm angle.
“The definite pacers for the World Cup should be Bumrah, Siraj, and Harshit Rana because he gives you batting at No.8. The backup pacer is a toss-up between Arshdeep Singh and Prasidh Krishna. But I feel Arshdeep, with his left-arm angle, brings a nice dynamic to South Africa, which definitely will have something in it for the pacers in the early part of the summer,” said Karthik on his Instagram handle.
Karthik noted that India hasn’t played with a full strength team in ODIs and thus they conceded a truckload of runs against the West Indies.
“The bowling attack has been under the scanner, especially in the last West Indies series that went by. They gave 1000+ runs in three games. But in fairness to Gill and Gambhir, they’ve not had the full-fledged ODI side for some time. Bumrah hasn’t played, Hardik hasn’t been around, and Harshit Rana has been injured. So there are plenty of reasons why this inexperienced bowling attack has gone for plenty on flat pitches.”
On the other hand, Karthik reckons Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami will miss India’s World Cup flight. Brar has been on the expensive side since the England tour whereas Kumar and Shami have been overlooked by the selectors.
Karthik concluded, “They will look closely at Prasidh Krishna. Gurnoor Brar has shown talent, but he has proved to be expensive. The other two names that need to be discussed, as there have been a lot of calls for them, are Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Shami has been so consistent and good. And Bhuvneshwar Kumar is a showstopper and somebody who has shown that he’s getting even better with age. But I doubt whether India will go back to these two pacers, even with Ajit Agarkar moving out of the selection committee.”
India’s next ODI series is against New Zealand.
