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.
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)
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.