The Secret Behind Stuart Binny's World Cup Selection

Stuart Binny's selection in India's 15-man World Cup squad had raised a lot of eyebrows. The 30-year-old Karnataka all-rounder had made his ODI debut against New Zealand in January 2014. Apart from  a 6/4 against Bangladesh - the best ever ODI bowling figures by an Indian - he has not exactly set the stage on fire. Stuart's father Roger, a former India player and current selector, was the reason several questions were asked after his inclusion for the World Cup. However, it's another matter that the 59-year-old recused himself from the meeting once his son's name came up for discussion by the panel. (Complete World Cup coverage)

All said and done, Binny could be the vital cog in the Indian wheel Down Under. For years, since Kapil Dev retired, the sub-continental giants have struggled to find a suitable fast-bowling all-rounder. Irfan Pathan brought a glimmer of hope but he quickly faded away, leaving India high and dry. Almost a decade later, the Men in Blue see another ray of light. Thankfully for them, the likes of Yuvraj Singh and Ravindra Jadeja have contributed heavily with both bat and ball but the team has missed the presence of a genuine fast-bowling 'Jack of all trades' cricketer. (Also read: MS Dhoni gears up for World Cup defense)

Despite Jadeja's success, the team management clearly feels the need for an all-rounder in the mold of Sourav Ganguly. Team Director Ravi Shastri had stressed on the role Ganguly played with his accurate medium-pacers, giving the side a few extra options lower down the order. Binny could play that role. In fact, if everything goes to plan, he could be expected to play the role Yuvraj played heroically in India's World Cup triumph of 2011. The now discarded cricketer scored 362 runs and snared 15 wickets, collecting four Man of the Match awards. Another performance like that by an Indian all-rounder could work wonders.

There is little doubt then that Binny is in the side after a lot of intense planning and strategising. He has been favoured by selectors, who decided to drop YUvraj, Harbhajan Singh and Virender Sehwag - men who could bat and bowl. Binny, therefore, will have to carry a lot of workload over the next two months. He will of course be backed up by Jadeja and Akshar Patel but if coach Duncan Fletcher has his way, the Bangalore boy might have to bear the brunt of the specialist all-rounder. (Related: Have you seen Deepika Padukone, Neha Dhupia in India's new jersey?)

"What we need in these conditions is a good batting all-rounder who bowls seam. That will add depth in our batting and give us that extra bowler. That is the real reason why we have Stuart Binny in the squad," the India coach told BCCI's official website. "We'll have to have a close look at him because batting deep is going to be very, very important in this World Cup."

Fletcher is also looking at the rest of his batsmen to roll their arms over and bowl useful spells. The likes of Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ambati Rayudu have done that in the past. But their bowling won't mean as much as a solid eight or even 10 overs from Binny. But the much maligned coach wants his batsmen to start thinking of dual roles on the field.

"I think it's very critical that our top batsmen bowl a bit too. I genuinely believe that some of our batsmen have very, very good bowling actions. They just need to put it into practice in the nets. If they really put in a good effort, they could turn into really good spin bowlers," Fletcher told bcci.tv

Jadeja has already been ruled out of the firs ODI in the tri-series against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday. Pace spearhead Ishant Sharma will also miss out and that could likely pave the way for Binny to get an early look-in. A good performance against the mighty Aussies in their own den could force the think-tank to lean more favourably towards a cricketer, who has had to carry the 'stigma' of a selector dad. Stuart of course has the full backing of the coach, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the rest of the support staff. He showed how dangerous he can be in conditions that helped seam - against Bangladesh as India set out to defend a paltry 105, Binny snared six wickets in 4.4 overs on a tricky Mirpur pitch. Result? The hosts were shot out for 58 and India were saved the blushes.

That Man-of-the-Match winning performance came in only his third ODI and Binny has played only three more since. He has not got a fair run like the others but he knows the limited opportunities in the lead-up to India's title defence could make or break his career.