Cricket World Cup
Mumbai: The BCCI’s five member selection committee has announced the preliminary squad for the World Cup in Mumbai. A 30 man squad was announced out of which only fifteen will make it to the World Cup.
Most of the players selected are those already on the tour to South Africa. VVS Laxman, the Tests wizard does not feature in the list as he is happy performing for India only in tests. Amongst those selected who are back at home are Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Shikhar Dhawan, Amit Mishra and Vinay Kumar.
Cheteshwar Pujara who scored a half century on Test debut against Australia, has been picked up in the squad.The 72 run knock of Pujara in the second innings was almost like a one day knock when India were chasing Australia’s total a few months back. Also, Mumbai batsman Ajinkya Rahane is included in the list, who actually is the only uncapped player for India.
Piyush Chawla has also been picked up for his leg spin efficiency alongwith allrounder Yousuf Pathan who has almost cemented his spot with a hundred against New Zealand recently. Saurabh Tiwary also managed to impress the selectors.
Irfan Pathan however couldn’t find a place for himself in the preliminary squad as he has missed the Domestic season owing to an injury. Murali Vijay’s past performances also seem to have pleased the selectors.
The announced squad which will be further shorlisted to 15 players by 19th of January, 2011 also includes three extra wicketkeepers apart from Mahendra Singh Dhoni namely, Partheev Patel, Dinesh Karthik and Wriddhiman Saha.
Krishnamachari Srikkanth, the chairman of the selection committee, said it was a team without surprises and meant to expect strong performances in home conditions. “This is a probable team and everyone selects himself” Srikkanth said.
“There is almost a month to go to select the final team and we will meet again and calmly think on finalising the team. They have been doing very well in the ODIs. The World Cup though is a bigger and a grander stage than the normal ODIs is now happening in the subcontinent and hence I’m confident that the team will do well.”
The 30 man squad:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yousuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Ishant Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Murali Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane, Saurabh Tiwary, Ashish Nehra, Partheev Patel, R Ashwin, Wriddhiman Saha, Dinesh Karthik, Shikhar Dhawan, Amit Mishra, Piyush Chavla, Cheteshwar Pujara, Pragyan Ojha and Pravin Kumar
Tags: BCCI, Cricket World Cup, ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, India, Indian Cricket, Indian Sports, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, Sports, Sports India
