Squad: Dhoni, Tendulkar, Sehwag, Gambhir, Kohli, Yuvraj, Raina, Pathan, Ashwin, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Nehra, Patel, Chawla, Praveen Kumar.
The Indian World Cup squad has been finalised. Some of the notable absentees were Rohit Sharma, Murali Vijay and Pragyan Ojha. While Sharma has failed to capitalise on the many oppurtunities handed out to him, Vijay has to wait with giants like Gambhir, Tendulkar and Sehwag available for the tournament. Yusuf Pathan and R. Ashwin are the two spinning all-rounders picked in the back of their impressive showing in Blues recently. In the fast-bowling department, a fit again-Zaheer Khan will be leading an attack comprising of Munaf Patel, Nehra and Praveen Kumar. Patel’s good showing in the five match series has earned him a berth in the squad. Nehra has been the most consistent pacer for India over the past year and a half. The most surprising inclusion was that of Piyush Chawla as the second spinner alongwith Harbhajan. Chawla played his last ODI in 2008 while Pragyan Ojha has played regularly for the test team and could’ve been considered ahead of Chawla.
With the World Cup being played in the subcontinent, Dhoni’s men have a great chance of lifting the cup in front of the home crowd. Their opening tie against Bangladesh will be prove to be critical. India began their disastrous 2007 WC campaign with a loss against Bangladesh. The format of this tournament is such that Teams can afford to start slowly. But, the Men in Blue will be looking to kick-start the campaign by avenging that loss.
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