The highly anticipated ODI Word Cup 2023 will kick-start from October 5 with defending champions England taking on New Zealand in the opening match at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. Team India will open their campaign against Australia on October 8 in Chennai. Before squaring off against each other in their World Cup openers, both the teams played a three-match ODI series, where India emerged victorious 2-1. As the World Cup is just around the corner, all the teams are taking their flight to India.

Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar has now named his India playing XI for their world cup opener against Australia.

“In any team, the top-three batters are quite important. A good start from the openers helps the others that follow to play freely. The contribution from the opening pair is going to crucial. You may pick three fast bowlers – Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports.

“If they want to go with two seamers since they already have Hardik Pandya then an extra spinner can be included. You can have Ashwin in the eleven,” he added.

The notable absentees from Gavaskar’s ideal XI were Ishan Kishan and Suryakuamr Yadav.

On the other hand, former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan stated that the Men in Blue should go ahead with five proper bowlers as due factor may play an important role.

“I agree with the top-seven. (But) I want the Indian team to go with proper five bowlers. You have Hardik as sixth bowler but you should go with bowlers having wicket-taking abilities. The pitches you will get now, there’s a possibility of dew so then you need to have a solid bowling throughout the world cup,” said Irfan.

“So go with main bowlers be it three fast bowlers that include Siraj, Shami and Bumrah. If you want someone to team up with Kuldeep Yadav then go with a proper bowler in Jadeja if it’s on a turning track. Go with proper bowlers who only think about wickets. Your top-7 batters can take care of the runs,” he added.

Earlier on Thursday, the Indian men’s cricket team reached Guwahati ahead of the Cricket World Cup 2023 warm-up match against England on September 30.

Sunil Gavaskar’s Playing XI: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah.