 | « Back to article | Print this article |
India's selectors went on expected lines, leaving out former champions while giving the nod to top performers in domestic circuit in the 30-man probables' list for the 2015 World Cup.
Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh, who were all part of India's World Cup in triumph in 2011, were omitted, while consistent performers in domestic cricket, like Manoj Tiwary, Kedar Jadhav, Sanju Samson, Parvez Rasool, Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey, were rewarded with a place in the shortlist.
The International Cricket Council rules stipulate that the list must be pruned to 15 on or before January 7, 2015.
Only four players from the previous World Cup got the nod; they include captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and Ravichandran Ashwin.
Veteran Sachin Tendulkar, who played in six World Cups, had retired from ODIs in 2012, while pacer Shantakumaran Sreesanth was banned for life for his alleged involvement in match-fixing in the sixth edition of the Indian Premier League.
Baroda all-rounder Yusuf Pathan also failed to make the cut, while pacers Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel and Piyush Chawla were ignored.
There were no real surprises in the list, though, except for Murali Vijay, who was picked ahead of Naman Ojha, who did well for India 'A' in Australia earlier this year and was also picked for the first Test in Australia to replace the injured Dhoni or Karnataka's young batting duo of KL Rahul and Karun Nair.
Parveez Rasool was rewarded for his good performances for Jammu and Kashmir in domestic cricket and so was Kedar Jadhav, who recently made his ODI debut, against Sri Lanka.
Sehwag has struggled in domestic cricket, with two half-centuries in 10 innings. He and Gambhir, his Delhi team mate, opted out of the Deodhar Trophy, the zonal One-Day tournament, saying they would not like to block the road of promising youngsters.
Zaheer, who picked up an injury during the IPL in May, has not played a single competitive match since then and is not even a part of Mumbai's squad for the Ranji Trophy opening match.
Harbhajan and Yuvraj, who turned out for Punjab in the Vijay Hazare and Deodhar One-Day tournaments, failed to make enough impact to impress the selectors.
India will play a tri-series in Australia, involving the hosts and England, before the World Cup kicks-off in Australia-New Zealand in February.
Probables list: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Robin Uthappa, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, Manoj Tiwary, Manish Pandey, Wriddhiman Saha, Sanju Samson, Ravichandran Ashwin, Parvez Rasool, Karn Sharma, Amit Mishra, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Dhawal Kulkarni, Stuart Binny, Mohit Sharma, Ashoke Dinda, Kuldeep Yadav, Murali Vijay.
Image: Virender Sehwag