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[Saba Sports News] Harbhajan Singh has selected his top five bowlers from the current Indian team whom he would like to see in the starting playing XI in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, which starts on October 5.
India has included eight bowlers in the 15-member squad for the upcoming World Cup, including Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, and Shardul Thakur. Almost every bowler was in India’s initial plans for the tournament, except Ashwin, who received a late entry into the squad, replacing Axar Patel, who got injured during the Asia Cup 2023.
Form India off-spinner Harbhajan chose Ashwin as his first-choice bowler ahead of left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep, who is inarguably India’s best tweaker on current form.
“People are realising that skill is more important. It’s not like an off-spinner shouldn’t bowl to right-handers. Even I mentioned that Ashwin should play if the opposition has more left-handers, but that is what the management thinks,” Harbhajan said while speaking to ESPNCricinfo.
“But if I was captain of the team or part of management, I would pick my five best bowlers and Ashwin would be first or second on that list. If I had to pick today, it would be Bumrah, Shami, Siraj, Jadeja, Ashwin,” he added.
However, as India’s first match of the World Cup 2023 is against Australia on Chennai’s traditional spinning track on October 8, it is highly likely that both Kuldeep and Ashwin would be in the playing XI.
Kuldeep, aged 28, has played 90 ODIs and has taken 152 wickets with an average of 25.62 and an economy of 5.13, while Ashwin has featured in 115 ODIs, securing 155 wickets with an average of 33.2 and an economy of 4.94.