ICC World Cup 2011: The Indian Team Probables

This is the final squad for the world cup picked on January 17:

Dhoni , Tendulkar, Sehwag,  Gambhir, Yuvraj , Raina, Kohli, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer, Nehra, Munaf, Piyush Chawla, R Ashwin

NOTE: No Rohit Sharma, Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma, Ojha; no second keeper

Surprise inclusion: Piyush Chawla

Breaking News on December 18

India’s preliminary World Cup squad is as follows:

MS Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Ishant Sharma, Vinay Kumar, M Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane, Saurabh Tiwary, Yusuf Pathan, Parthiv Patel, R Ashwin, Wriddhiman Saha, Dinesh Karthik, Shikhar Dhawan, Amit Mishra, Piyush Chawla, Cheteshwar Pujara, Pragyan Ojha, Praveen Kumar

This list will be reduced to 15 men by January 19.

The following article was written in July:

The ICC ODI World Cup will begin, 7 months from now, on 19 February 2011, when cricketing giants, India and Bangladesh will face off at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium at Mirpur, in Bangladesh.

In this first of a series of articles on this greatest of sporting events on the Indian sub-continent, I will list 23 players who should comprise the Indian team probables for the world cup.

Why am I naming the Indian team ahead of the others? Because India are favourites for the world cup, especially as they are co-hosting it with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Here are the 23 players I think will make the cut for Team India: MS Dhoni (Captain and Wicket-keeper), Sehwag (Vice-captain), Gambhir, Tendulkar, Yuvraj, Raina, Jadeja, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Nehra, Praveen, Sreesanth, Yusuf Pathan, Dinesh Kartik, Rohit Sharma, Saurabh Tiwari, Mithun, Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Kohli, Chawla, and Ojha.

All the usual suspects are here, but a few omissions might cause comment. For instance, I have excluded Irfan Pathan. Those who have any doubt on this score should refer to this article, I wrote a few days ago.

This is a list of the 23 probables, from which the final 14 will get selected. In the 14, we are certain to see the following players: Dhoni, Sehwag, Gambhir, Tendulkar, Yuvraj, Raina, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Nehra, and Rohit Sharma. So I am left with the task of selecting 4 more. And they are Dinesh Kartik, Abhimanyu Mithun, Sreesanth and Yusuf Pathan.

Why Dinesh Kartik? He walks into my team as a specialist batsman, though I don’t know why Dhoni doesn’t let him keep wickets. Probably, Dhoni finds the spot behind the stumps an ideal place from which to shout encouragement to his bowlers and fielders. Coming back to Dinesh Kartik, he has been around long enough to be able to handle pressure situations, as he so aptly proved in the Asia Cup. He is also an agile fielder.

Mithun has, in the first test in Sri Lanka, justified the faith reposed in him by the selectors. He is a hard trier, and at Cricinfosite, we believe he will go from strength to strength.

Recently, Sreesanth made a comeback to the Indian team after a long hiatus. He is a genuinely talented player who needed to make attitude adjustments, which he seems to have understood. As far as form is concerned, a good bowler is only one match away from regaining form.

Yusuf Pathan makes the grade ahead of Jadeja. Jadeja is a fighting young player but Yusuf Pathan has the edge on him in sheer attitude. Jadeja lacks the raw power that Pathan can bring to bear in the slog overs. Also his delivery style with a high arm action ensures that his bowling has a lower trajectory and perhaps a wee bit harder to put away for runs, although Jadeja has often proved a more than useful bowler.

Ishant Sharma, Ojha, Mishra and Saurabh Tiwary nearly made the grade, but didn’t. But you must have surely noticed the biggest omission from my list — Virat Kohli. Including Kohli i the 14 would have meant dropping Rohit Sharma. But ask yourself, who is the classier batsman? Also, Rohit is capable of bowling a full quota of overs in an innings, consistently, as he has done on many occasions.

But Kohli can find some consolation in the fact that this is only the 14 for the first match. The World Cup will go on for a month and a half. Injuries and poor

performances could lead to some changes, and Kohli might soon find himself back in the team.

Post Script on December 5: The above article was written in July, 2010.

Now, it looks as though India’s 14 for the world cup will be: Sehwag, Sachin, Gambhir, Raina, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Nehra, Praveen Kumar, Sreesanth, Ojha, Kohli and Yusuf Pathan/ R Ashwin.

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Tags: Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, ICC, India, Nehra, Sachin, Sachin Tendulkar, Sehwag, Sreesanth, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj, Zaheer

Category: Cricket, ICC World Cup 2011