The final squad of Indian cricket team has been announced recently by the selection committee headed by chief selector, K. Srikkanth. In the final squad, only 15 players have been selected from the 30-man provision squad. This squad has been finalized after the discussion with Indian skipper, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and coach, Gary Kirsten. N Srinivasan, who is the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), announced the Indian squad for the ICC World Cup 2011 in Chennai.
Indian squad for ICC World Cup 2011: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Virendra Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvaraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawla.
The squad has been made up with the inclusion of seven batsmen, one all-rounder, four pacers and three specialist spinners.
India’s experienced middle order batsman Rohit Sharma failed to make his place in the final squad. His exclusion from the squad surprised the cricket fans. The reason of not selecting him in the final was perhaps his bad performance. The 23-year-old player was out of form for many matches. Despite being a potential player, Rohit Sharma could score only 1219 runs from 58 ODIs at an average of 28.34. So far he has scored only two centuries and five half-centuries.
It seems that selectors were very confused when it came to choose the second specialist spinner in the squad. There is no doubt that Harbhajan Singh was the main choice for the spin attack. The problem rose when it came to select the second specialist spinner. However, both Ravichandran Ashwin and Piyush Chawla were named in the squad while left-arm spinner, Pragyan Ojha, was dropped.
Injury has become a big threat for Indian cricket team. At that time, four players are now suffering from injury. They are Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Praveen Kumar. Despite their injuries, they have been picked in the squad hoping that they will be fit in time and play for their team in the upcoming biggest cricket event. Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir are now in South Africa as the part of Indian cricket team.
Virender Sehwag was rested from the five-match ODI series against South Africa due to his shoulder injury. Selectors are hoping that he will be recovered soon and play for Indian cricket team. Due to his injury, he could not take part in the ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2010. In this third edition of Twenty20 World Cup, India could not go further as they lost all three matches in the Super Eight round. That is why, selectors are worried about his injury.
What will happen if Virender Sehwag cannot play in the limited-over cricket tournament? I know that no Indian supporters would expect this thing to be happened once again. It is true that there is no hard hitter batsman who can replace him for the opening position.
Munaf Patel is one of the four pace bowlers who have been picked in the final squad. It is thought that his good bowling performance against South Africa in the second ODI match helped him make his place in the 15-man Indian squad. Munaf Patel emerged as match savior and led his team to get an exciting 1 run victory and level the ongoing ODI series 1-1.
Zaheer Khan will lead the Indian bowling attack along with Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra. Praveen Kumar is now suffering from injury, but he is hopeful that he will make his return in the squad soon. Praveen Kumar is a brilliant bowler. He can swing the bowl in both sides can keep continuing pressure over the opponent team. So, captain and coach both expect his service in the World Cup.
The exclusion of S Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma also surprise the fans. These two fast bowlers failed to satisfy the selectors with their performance.
Yusuf Pathan is the only all-rounder in the squad. He is now performing well with the bat. He is also playing important role as an occasional spin bowler. Yusuf Pathan is a hard hitter batsman. He plays well in the lower middle order position and his aggressive batting style will help India to get some quick runs at the end.
As India is one of the co-host countries of 2011 ICC World Cup so spin attack will be the main arm for Indian cricket team. Selectors and captain will give more importance in this side. Harbhajan Singh will lead the spin attack. Opponent teams should feel worry to play against him.
Sachin Tendulkar is the most experienced player in the squad. This legendary batsman has the experience of playing many world cup tournaments for Indian cricket team. At the age of 37, he is still playing well. In South Africa tour, he has already proved that he can play like past. He scored his 51st Test century against South Africa and became the most capped ODI player after making his appearance in the second ODI match against the same team.
If injured players are fit son and play their best game then India will be the strongest team in the ICC World Cup. Overall, India looks much balanced and dangerous team.
India is continuously playing well in all forms of cricket game. Currently, they are now holding the top in the Test team ranking. For other test playing teams, it will be very difficult to topple India from the ranking soon.
Their position in ODI team ranking is also progressing. Now, they are the second ODI team after Australia. They have the possibility to bring Australia down from the top place if they can continue their good form.
Many cricket experts think that India can win the ICC World Cup cricket trophy this time. India will take the advantage of being the host country. Fans should know that India is always a strong team in their home ground. Their batsmen can play well in the slow wickets and the second strength of Indian cricket team is their dangerous spin attack. No doubt, they will be under huge pressure as a host country.
Let’s see if they can over the pressure and play their best game.
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