Every Indian is all ears as Cheeka(Krishnamachari Srikkanth) announces the 15 member squad for the upcoming Cricket World Cup being held in the subcontinent.
The No Brainers- MS Dhoni, Tendulkar, Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvraj, Raina, Kohli, Zaheer, Harbhajan, Praveen Kumar fill the top 10, leaving the selectors to handpick 5 deserving prospects to complete the squad.
A few good men, who based on recent performances got the selection committee talking and made it to the list of probables include the likes of Rohit Sharma, Murali Vijay, Yusuf Pathan, Pragyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, R Ashwin, Munaf Patel, Ashish Nehra.
Keeping in mind the batting friendly pitches of the subcontinent preference would be given to a specialist batsman to fill in an empty slot. The changing game has seen part time bowlers play a vital role in the middle overs(15-40) of a match in which case we enjoy a plethora of options in Yuvraj, Raina, Sehwag, Yusuf, Rohit.
The BCCI though, had other ideas.
To start off with, Rohit Sharma not making the 15 is a big chunk of talent that has gone missing from the batting line up. The moment he came onto the scene with some blistering knocks in the 2007 T20 World Cup, it was evident the youngster was a blossoming talent and exuded confidence in his exquisite strokeplay. In a short span of some 50 plus ODIs he has showcased his temperament for the limited overs format and has seen India home on a number of occasions with some reliable knocks. Not to mention his handy off spinners that reaped dividends for the Deccan chargers.
Yusuf Pathan filling in the 'all rounder' slot did not come as a surprise on the back of his match winning 123 against the Kiwis late last year. You'd wonder if he would make the squad sans that knock.
The Indian bowling department is constantly under speculation and more so in the case of the subcontinent wickets being conducive for batting. Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma didn't make the cut with the former being in and out of the ODI team since late 2008 and the latter with his subdued pace and negligible lateral movement, is now a stark contrast from when he first hit the international stage. BCCI considered Munaf Patel's crucial spell against South Africa that helped India clinch the thriller by 1 run enough to include him in the squad. Gives you an idea of how far back the selectors went in terms of the track record of these players.
Spin has always been an integral part of the Indian bowling attack and the search was on for one to bowl in tandem with the turbanator. Ojha's omission from this list was a definite setback. A genuine left arm orthodox bowler with immaculate control and a cool head on his shoulders somehow never grabbed any eyeballs amongst the selectors. R Ashwin, a budding talent and a promising start to his international career is an understandable pick, although he must consider himself fortunate with just 7 ODI caps to his name. Piyush Chawla, an inclusion that defies logic and there just isn't anything I can imagine that would make the selectors tip the scales in his favour.
Above all these petty selections and omissions is the state of Tendulkar's hamstring and we would want to see the master a 100% in time for what is being feared to be his last World Cup. The World Cup trophy itself will be graced to have found its way into the hands of the greatest ever to have played the game.
The No Brainers- MS Dhoni, Tendulkar, Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvraj, Raina, Kohli, Zaheer, Harbhajan, Praveen Kumar fill the top 10, leaving the selectors to handpick 5 deserving prospects to complete the squad.
A few good men, who based on recent performances got the selection committee talking and made it to the list of probables include the likes of Rohit Sharma, Murali Vijay, Yusuf Pathan, Pragyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, R Ashwin, Munaf Patel, Ashish Nehra.
Keeping in mind the batting friendly pitches of the subcontinent preference would be given to a specialist batsman to fill in an empty slot. The changing game has seen part time bowlers play a vital role in the middle overs(15-40) of a match in which case we enjoy a plethora of options in Yuvraj, Raina, Sehwag, Yusuf, Rohit.
The BCCI though, had other ideas.
To start off with, Rohit Sharma not making the 15 is a big chunk of talent that has gone missing from the batting line up. The moment he came onto the scene with some blistering knocks in the 2007 T20 World Cup, it was evident the youngster was a blossoming talent and exuded confidence in his exquisite strokeplay. In a short span of some 50 plus ODIs he has showcased his temperament for the limited overs format and has seen India home on a number of occasions with some reliable knocks. Not to mention his handy off spinners that reaped dividends for the Deccan chargers.
Yusuf Pathan filling in the 'all rounder' slot did not come as a surprise on the back of his match winning 123 against the Kiwis late last year. You'd wonder if he would make the squad sans that knock.
The Indian bowling department is constantly under speculation and more so in the case of the subcontinent wickets being conducive for batting. Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma didn't make the cut with the former being in and out of the ODI team since late 2008 and the latter with his subdued pace and negligible lateral movement, is now a stark contrast from when he first hit the international stage. BCCI considered Munaf Patel's crucial spell against South Africa that helped India clinch the thriller by 1 run enough to include him in the squad. Gives you an idea of how far back the selectors went in terms of the track record of these players.
Spin has always been an integral part of the Indian bowling attack and the search was on for one to bowl in tandem with the turbanator. Ojha's omission from this list was a definite setback. A genuine left arm orthodox bowler with immaculate control and a cool head on his shoulders somehow never grabbed any eyeballs amongst the selectors. R Ashwin, a budding talent and a promising start to his international career is an understandable pick, although he must consider himself fortunate with just 7 ODI caps to his name. Piyush Chawla, an inclusion that defies logic and there just isn't anything I can imagine that would make the selectors tip the scales in his favour.
Above all these petty selections and omissions is the state of Tendulkar's hamstring and we would want to see the master a 100% in time for what is being feared to be his last World Cup. The World Cup trophy itself will be graced to have found its way into the hands of the greatest ever to have played the game.
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