India named their 15-man provisional squad for the 2023 Cricket World Cup and there were no real surprises. KL Rahul, who has not played international cricket since March, made it to the side.

Prasidh Krishna and Tilak Varma were named in the Asia Cup squad but they were not included in the World Cup line-up. Sanju Samson, named as a travelling stand-by for the Asia Cup, was also snubbed for the World Cup.

Is this the best India could have gathered then? Rohit Sharma certainly thinks so but can this team mount a serious challenge at the World Cup?

India have had a rusty build-up to the World Cup. They lost a series to Bangladesh last year and another to Australia at home in 2023. Between those two setbacks, India won back-to-back series over New Zealand and Sri Lanka and defeated West Indies 2-1 in the West Indies. However, their top-order has not fired as consistently as India would have liked and that remains cause for concern.

India have a few chinks in their armour, as was evident from their top-order batting display against Pakistan and the lethargic fielding efforts against Nepal. Can they resolve these issues soon enough?

Saurabh Kumar and Akshay Ramesh join Rajarshi Gupta in one of the most scintillating episodes of the Sledging Room!

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Produced by Anna Priyadarshini

Sound mix by Sachin Dwivedi