Versatility important, says Langer ahead of announcing World Cup squad

Melbourne: Australia coach, Justin Langer, has put emphasis on the importance of versatility of the players ahead of announcing World Cup squad which is set to be picked on April 9.

Both the openers, Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja, showed a stunning performance against Pakistan and whitewashed Pakistan 5-0 to register their first whitewash abroad since 2008.

David Warner too proved himself as he scored 100 runs off just 55 balls in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) making it tough for the selectors to pick their opening pair.

“Aaron has had a really good partnership with David Warner as well. This partnership’s blossoming between Aaron and ‘Uzzie’ at the moment,” Cricket.com.au quoted Langer as saying.

“David has shown he’s a very versatile player, Uzzie’s batted three a number of times, Finchy’s batted in the middle order. Versatility’s important,” he added.

The former test batsman admitted that announcement of the squad will leave some players “brutally unlucky” but the recent performances have helped them instead of hindering the selection process.

“It’s actually becoming more obvious by the day to me. The same with the other selectors,” Langer said of picking the World Cup squad.

“We know categorically there are going to be one or two guys brutally unlucky not to get selected because they’re all going so well … the blokes in the squad at the moment will be praying it’s not them.”

The World Cup is set to commence on May 30 when the host England will face South Africa.

[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]