Cricket Update: ICC World Cup 2011- India announces World Cup Squad
India has announced their squad for the upcoming ICC World Cup that is going to be played in the subcontinent, next month. The Asian giants are believed to be one of the favourites to win the global cricketing event.
The Indian squad for the World Cup has been announced in Chennai and it includes seven front line batsmen, three specialist spinner and four fast bowlers. Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been retained as the captain of the team.
One of the surprise exclusions is of a talented right-hand batsman Rohit Sharma. Sharma, who is a part of the current Indian team that is playing the One-day international series in South Africa, has failed to make an impression with the willow. In the first
two games, the Mumbai played has collected poor scores of 11 and 9.
Also the national selectors haven’t considered the left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, who hasn’t done badly in his short limited overs career. Ojha has picked up 20 victims in his 16 outings at an impressive average of 30. Most importantly, his economy rate
of 4.31 is a significant testament of his accurate bowling.
The off-break bowler R Ashwin and the leg-spinner Piyush Chawala have been given a nod ahead of Ojha. Ashwin, who broke into the scene in an ODI match against Sri Lanka, has impressed everyone with his gritty off-spin bowling. He has started his career in
an impressive manner, picking up 14 scalps at 23, including a decent economy rate of 4.9 runs per over.
Chawala, who has represented India in 21 games, has been a surprise selection. The leg-break bowler hasn’t played an ODI game, since Asia Cup in 2008. Currently, he is part of India’s One-day unit in South Africa.
The fast bowling duo of Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth has been neglected by the selectors due to their poor form in the fifty over format. Meanwhile, Munaf Patel, who was the main architect of India’s win over the Proteas in the second match, has been chosen
to play in the World Cup.
On the other hand, India is not boasting its full strength side in land of Proteas, as Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag are having injury concerns. Still the selectors have picked them, considering that they will be fit ahead of the Cricket’s
marquee tournament.
India’s World Cup Squad: MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Piyush Chawla,
R Ashwin
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