World Cup 2019, meet Team India

India’s 15-member squad for the 2019 World Cup can be the perfect advertisement for the tagline Unity in Diversity. While skipper Virat Kohli hails from the national capital Delhi, the most experienced player, M. S. Dhoni, is from Ranchi and had also worked at Kharagpur, the station with the longest railway platform in the world, as a ticket collector.

There are only three players, combined, from the traditional cricket centres Delhi and Mumbai, the home of vice-captain Rohit Sharma.

The fast bowlers in the team are from Meerut and Sahaspur in Uttar Pradesh and Ahmedabad. The two leading spinners – Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, popularly called Kulcha – come from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh and Jind in Haryana.

Sportstar journalists travelled to 14 cities and towns across the country, speaking to the family, neighbours, childhood friends and coaches of each of the 15 World Cup stars to bring you the stories that have made these cricketers world-beaters today. 

Starting May 16, we begin the series, bringing you the back story of one player each.

• Dhoni, through the eyes of family, teachers, friends
   

• Kuldeep Yadav - the accidental chinaman
   

• Hardik Pandya, Team India's soft-hearted killer
   

• Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the antithesis of a Merathiya