India unravel 30 for World Cup
India have unraveled their 30-men preliminary squad for the 2011 cricket World Cup that is set to start from 19th February in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
The most coveted ODI tournament would end in April and would see 14 teams competing in the group stages before the knock-out stage which would have eight top teams from the two groups play in the quarter-finals.
As per the guideline of the governing body of the game the International Cricket Council the Indians announced their set of 30 before the deadline of 19th December.
The squad was unraveled by former opening batsman known for his caviler attitude towards batting in the 80s and the early 90s, Kris Srikkanth.
Srikkanth who also captained India for a considerable time claimed that the squad is a collection of the best talent for the format in the country and all the players that have got the nod have selected themselves through the sheer weight
of their performances.
“This is a probables team and everyone selects himself," Srikkanth said. "There is one more month to go to select the final team and we will sit down and think calmly before finalizing the team. They have been doing well in one-day cricket.
The World Cup is happening in the subcontinent and I am confident that the team will do well."
Ajinkya Rahane is the major surprise in the preliminary squad the right handed batsman has been impressive in domestic limited overs tournament including the high profile Indian Premier League where he represents the Mumbai Indians.
There are some extremely talented batsmen in the squad, these players have already made their impression in the international arena and the Indian fans and selectors have high hopes from them in the years to come.
The core of the squad includes players who are very much certain selections for the World Cup these include the likes of MS Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh,
Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra.
These players take 10 of the 15 available spots for the final World Cup squad, the competition is now for the remaining five places and it is now on the selectors to decide in consultation with the team management as to who would be these
five players.
The fringe players who are keen on making the squad the likes of Ishant Sharma, Vinay Kumar, M Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane, Saurabh Tiwary, Yusuf Pathan, pacers Ishant Sharma and Vinay Kumar are set to fight for
the remaining spots for fast bowlers along with Shiv Sreesanth and Praveen Kumar.
The remaining two batting spots would be contested by M Vijay, Ravindra Jadeja, Rohit Sharma, Saurabh Tiwary and Yusuf Pathan and Rahane,
Yusuf Pathan was the star of the show in the series against the New Zealanders who were smashed 5-0 by the Indians in a ODI series that concluded earlier in the month, he smeared an eye catching hundred that won Indian the fourth ODI from
a tricky position.
He was joined in a 100 plus unbeaten stand by Tiwary who has also impressed the selectors in the limited opportunities he has had at the highest level.
Preliminary squad: MS Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Ishant Sharma, Vinay Kumar, M
Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane, Saurabh Tiwary, Yusuf Pathan, Parthiv Patel, R Ashwin, Wriddhiman Saha, Dinesh Karthik, Shikhar Dhawan, Amit Mishra, Piyush Chawla, Cheteshwar Pujara, Pragyan Ojha, Praveen Kumar
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