Squad: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami.

MSK Prasad, the chairman of selectors, saw Shankar as India's number four at the World Cup, a position where they have tried as many as eleven batsmen since the 2017 Champions Trophy. "We are looking at him at No. 4 to begin with. With Dinesh Karthik in and also Kedar Jadhav in, we have plenty of options at that No. 4 right now,"" he said.

Rayudu, however, will feel hard done by considering captain Virat Kohli believed he was the ideal choice for that spot just a few months back. "After that Champions Trophy [in 2017] we have tried quite a few middle-order batsmen, which also includes Dinesh Karthik; we also tried Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey. We did give a few more chances to Rayudu, but what Vijay Shankar offers is three dimensions. Apart from his batting, he can bowl; if the conditions are suitable, overcast, which we might encounter in England, he might bowl a bit and he's a fantastic fielder. That's the thing that went in favour of Vijay Shankar,"" Prasad elaborated.

The squad contains only three frontline pacers in Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami with pace-bowling all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Shankar providing additional options. Similarly, Jadeja's inclusion provides India the option of a third spinner lest Kuldeep Yadav or Yuzvendra Chahal suffers either an injury or a loss of form. "In the last one-and-a-half years, these two wrist-spinners who have won us games," Prasad said. "But there might be a situation where you might require an additional all-rounder in the playing XI, which Jadeja brings in. In the second part of the tournament, where the wickets may be a bit more dry, that is where we felt Jadeja will come in handy. That's the reason why he's been picked."

The BCCI also announced that the touring party would include four extra fast bowlers in Navdeep Saini, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed and Deepak Chahar in order to "assist the Indian team" as they prepare for the World Cup. India play warm-up games against New Zealand and Bangladesh before kicking-off their campaign against South Africa in Southapmton on June 5.