Bhajji amongst World T20 probables, Bhatia surprise inclusion

New Delhi: Seasoned opener Gautam Gambhir was on Friday omitted from India's 30-member probables' list for the upcoming ICC World Twenty20 scheduled to be held in Bangladesh while veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh was named in the list.

Delhi all-rounder Rajat Bhatia was a surprise inclusion while young Kerala wicket-keeper Sanju Samson, who has been a revellation in the shortest format, and former India U-19 captain Unmukt Chand were also included in the probables list for the event to be held from March 16 to April 6.

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Unheralded Railways leg-spinner Karn Sharma, who made an impression in the IPL and Champions League for Sunrisers Hyderabad, has also been named in the list announced by the BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel.

Harbhajan has been rewarded for his IPL performance last season where he was among the top wicket-takers with 24 scalps at an impressive economy rate of 6.15. His batting form has also been good of late as he hit a match-winning 92 for Punjab in the Ranji Trophy quarter-final last week.

The left-handed Gambhir, who is no longer in the Indian ODI or Test team, failed to make the cut alongwith Virender Sehwag, another senior player was has been out of the selection radar for some time due to poor form.

Irfan and Yousuf Pathan, Cheteshwar Pujara and Murali Vijay also did not figure in the list.

But the biggest surprise has been the inclusion of 34-year-old Rajat Bhatia. A Delhi stalwart, Bhatia has been pretty effective for Kolkata Knight Riders. He has scored 5089 runs and has taken 107 wickets in 87 first-class matches.

He has played 104 T20 matches and has played in all six IPLs with the first three for Delhi Daredevils and the last three for KKR. His strike-rate is 116 coming in at No 7 or 8 while he has taken 78 wickets at an economy rate of 7.15 which is decent by T20 standards.

Bengal's Ashoke Dinda (37 wickets) and Laxmi Ratan Shukla (584 runs and 9 wickets) however failed to make it to the 30-member squad.

The probables list has largely been picked on the basis of IPL performance and that is the reason why Mandeep Singh of Kimgs XI Punjab and Shahbaz Nadeem the left-arm spinner of Delhi Daredevils have also made the grade.

Probables: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni, Dinesh Kartik, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Stuart Binny, Mohit Sharma, Kedar Jadhav, Yuvraj Singh, Amit Mishra, Rajat Bhatia, Sanju Vishwanadh Samson, Ishwar Pandey, Umesh Yadav, Unmukt Chand, Mandeep Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Varun Aaron, S. Nadeem,Parthiv Patel, Karn Sharma.

Former India players "surprised" at Gambhir's exclusion

Former India players "surprised" at Gambhir's exclusion

New Delhi: Former India opener and chairman of DDCA selection committee Chetan Chauhan expressed his "shock and disappointment" at the exclusion of senior opener Gautam Gambhir from the 30-member probables list for the World T20 in Bangladesh.

"I am surprised and shocked that Gautam is not there in the 30-member list. You want to tell me that the guy is so bad that he is not among the top-30 T20 players in the country. I would like to know the logic behind such a selection. Look at his performance for India in T20. If I am not wrong, he is still the highest run-getter for India in this format," an angry Chauhan told PTI today.

Gambhir has 932 runs in 37 T20 matches with seven 50's, which is highest among the Indian batsmen followed by Yuvraj Singh (868 runs), Suresh Raina (859 runs) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (772 runs).

Chauhan, a veteran of 40 Test matches and a former national selector feels that one needs to have a clear-cut policy regarding the selection process.

"I am sad to say there has to be a proper policy for selection. While I am happy that our boys Rajat (Bhatia) and Unmukt (Chand) are in the probables, there is no denying that I am deeply hurt by Gautam's exclusion. This year's IPL would be crucial and I believe, he will score a lot of runs. He has not done badly in Ranji Trophy," Chauhan said.

Former India all-rounder and Delhi captain Madan Lal said that Gambhir has had "much better performance than some in that list".

"It is surprising and disappointing that a player of Gambhir's calibre has not been included in the 30 member squad. There are lot of players who have not performed like Gambhir and they are still there in that list," the hero of the 1983 World Cup win said.

DDCA president Sneh Bansal said that he will "informally speak" to the president N Srinivasan about Gambhir's non-inclusion.

"These are selection matters and I will personally have a word with the BCCI president as to why Gambhir's name is not there in the list. I am going to Chennai on the 22nd for the Emergent Meeting," Bansal said.