ICC World Cup 2015: No place for seniors

Mumbai: Chairman of selectors Sandeep Patil rarely shows emotions. On Thursday when the five selectors met at the BCCI headquarters here in Mumbai to pick the 30-man probables list for the upcoming World Cup, there was no place for sentiments. Romantics’ favourite Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and Gautam Gambhir were left out of the squad. The Big Five were integral part of the victorious 2011 campaign, but their omission has made it clear that the selectors have complete faith in the rising pool of promising youngsters who are also consistent performers.

Both Sehwag and Gambhir did not play in the just concluded Deodhar Trophy while Yuvraj and Harbhajan failed to make an impact. In the nine matches that the off-spinner played for Punjab this season, he bagged only eight wickets whereas Yuvraj managed just a lone fifty in the 10 List A games. The squad for the 2015 World Cup has 10 batsmen, nine fast bowlers, seven spinners and four wicketkeepers including captain M.S. Dhoni. It however has little similarity from the 15 that played in the last edition as only Virat Kohli, R. Ashwin Suresh Raina and Dhoni figure in the list.

Domestic performers Manoj Tiwary, Ashoke Dinda, Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey, Parvez Rasool, Kedar Jahav were rewarded, but Karnataka captain Vinay Kumar was ignored. There was also no space for the technically strong Cheteshwar Pujara even though the World Cup is to be held Down Under. With seniors out of the way, selecting a squad, which is mainly for administrative purpose, was an easy job. The real challenge will emerge when the January 7 deadline nears to name the final 15.

The Indian team management will have to brainstorm over the combination of five fast bowlers and two spinners or four fast bowlers and three spinners with a wicketkeeper-batsman.

With the domestic one-day competition over and Ranji Trophy to begin from Sunday, the selectors will also need to deliberate on a middle-order spot. With Rohit Sharma returning from injury and striking a blazing 264 against Sri Lanka, the opener’s slot seemed to have been taken back from Ajinkya Rahane. With Rayudu too hitting his maiden ODI century in Ahmedabad, the selectors will need to think if in-form Manoj Tiwary, Manish Pandey and Uthappa can break into the 15-member squad.