XtraTime Web Desk: India’s young wicket keeper batsman Rishabh Pant and veteran middle order batsman Ambati Rayudu on Wednesday named among the standbys of Men in Blue’s World Cup squad, which keep their hopes of playing the World Cup at UK still alive in case any player gets injured.
Speedster Navdeep Saini also found a place in the list of three back-ups for the mega-event starting on May 30.
Pant and Rayudu’s exclusion from the squad of 15 had created quite a stir on Monday. While Sunil Gavaskar called Pant’s omission surprising, the snub to Rayudu was questioned by Gautam Gambhir.
With the ICC doing away with the practice of letting countries announce a probables’ list before the final squad, the BCCI also has the option of including anyone apart from these three but it is unlikely to happen.
“Just like ICC Champions Trophy, we have three standbys. Rishabh Pant and Ambati Rayudu are the first and second standbys while Saini is the bowler in the list. So if anyone gets injured, as per requirement, one of the three will be going,” a senior BCCI official said.