Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan, Gautam Gambhir Ignored for World Cup 2015
Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh are not on the 30-man probables list for 2015 World Cup. MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and R Ashwin are the only survivors from the squad that won the 2011 World Cup.
The preliminary list of 30 Indian probables for the upcoming World Cup in Australia and New Zealand was announced on Thursday. Seniors Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan SIngh, Zaheer Khan and Gautam Gambhir were left out. (Full list of Team India's 30 probables for World Cup 2015)
The meeting of the five-member selection panel headed by Sandeep Patil chose to leave the heroes of World Cup 2011 from the squad despite their past laurels.
"Seniors were also considered (and) there was a discussion. But the thought process was to give preference to the performers," said Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary Sanjay Patel.
"Barring major injuries, the World Cup squad would be from this lot," Patel added. (Recap read: Sehwag has World Cup dreams | Yuvraj wants to play for India again)
© PTI
On expected lines, the selectors retained the 14 names that they had selected for the last two home ODIs against Sri Lanka along with players who were rested -- MS Dhoni, Ishant Sharma, Varun Aaron, Mohd Shami, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Shikhar Dhawan and R Jadeja. Interestingly, Dhoni, Kohli, Raina and Ashwin are the only survivors from the squad that won the 2011 World Cup. (India face Australia in first warm-up match of ICC World Cup 2015)
The list of players chosen did not surprise former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar who told NDTV that the omitted seniors had not performed in domestic circuit and therefore, could have hardly made their case. "This was expected as these players have not played for India in over a year," he said. "They have not even performed in domestic matches. Cricket has become faster and a team cannot take passengers."
With a clear emphasis on youth, Indian seniors like Sehwag, Harbhajan, Gambhir, Zaheer and Yuvraj could not find a place in the probables. The final 15-member squad should be announced latest by January 7. The World Cup starts from Feburary 14. (In Pics: World Cup goes on a shark dive | World Cup trophy's maiden diving adventure)
Why were the aging heroes kept out?
Sehwag's recent performances - in domestic cricket - have not been exceptional. Barring an 80 against Haryana on November 12, he has scores of 9, 20, 11 and 0 in his previous five outings. His last international ODI appearance was on January 3 in 2013 - against Pakistan.
Harbhajan has been ordinary in his recent performances in domestic cricket as well. He has three wickets and a half-century from his last five outings for Punjab. His last ODI was in 2011 against West Indies at Port Sound although he played against Australia in the Hyderabad Test in 2013.
Yuvraj's recent domestic performances have been decent with a half century and four wickets. His last ODI appearance was against South Africa in December of 2013.
Gambhir last played an ODI for India in January of 2013. His recent performances in the domestic circuit have been average with scores of 22, 4, 93, 23 and 22 for Delhi.
Zaheer Khan last played for India in an ODI in August 2012. Zaheer's last outing in the middle was for the Mumbai Indians during the Indian Premier League 2014. He returned with a tally of five wickets in six games.
India's 30-man probables list: MS 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, R 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 and Murali Vijay.