The Indian selectors announced the probables for the World Cup and also named the 15 for the first two "scene-setting" ODIs against West Indies.
As expected (and as I had 'predicted' earlier today), Uthappa and Joginder Sharma got the selectors' nods for the West Indies games. Sehwag and Pathan have been left out. My feeling is that this is a scare the spur them onto getting their houses (and more importantly, their minds) in order. I can't somehow imagine an Indian ODI team without Sehwag and Pathan in it. This has to be a scare tactic...
The surprise packets for the games against the Windies include Ramesh Powar and Gautam Gambhir. I must say the selection of Powar baffles me somewhat...
Pathan and Sehwag are in the WC probables list of 30 though. I'd expect thatboth Pathan and Sehwag will come in to the final WC XV at the expense of Powar and Gambhir (from the current team of XV announced for the first 2 ODIs). My suspicion is that Powar and Gambhir are keeping the seat warm for Pathan and Sehwag respectively while the latter two sweat it out a bit in the nets! The slight worry is that Delhi have no Ranji games left in the competition...
Given the surprise inclusion of Powar, the team for the first 2 ODIs looks like a well balanced ODI team.
West Indies one-dayers (in probable batting order)
Sachin Tendulkar
Sourav Ganguly
Robin Uthappa / Dinesh Karthik / Gautham Gambhir
Rahul Dravid (capt)
Suresh Raina
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk)
Joginder Sharma / Ajit Agarkar
Harbhajan Singh / Ramesh Powar
Zaheer Khan
S. Sreesanth
Rudra Pratap Singh
The probables include a few surprises too. My sense is that VVS. Laxman, Mohammed Kaif, Cheteshwar Pujara, Dinesh Mongia and Rohit Sharma are just making up the numbers -- just as I had RS. Sodhi, et al in my list of 30 probables earlier in the day! The surprise packet in the 30 is Parthiv Patel. This must be a joke!
Oh well... Here's hoping that the Pathan-Sehwag scare works well...
World Cup probables
Rahul Dravid, Robin Uthappa, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Parthiv Patel, Anil Kumble, Gautham Gambhir, Zaheer Khan, Ramesh Powar, Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh, Joginder Sharma, Ajit Agarkar, Rudra Pratap Singh, VRV Singh, Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan, Rohit Sharma, S Badrinath, Cheteshwar Pujara, Dinesh Mongia, Ishanth Sharma, Rajesh Powar
Parthiv Patel in the list of 30! That is one joke to which I am not laughing....
ReplyDeleteAnd why would you drop Sehwag? He is already making an impact in the Ranji match with both bat and ball. If he is not back for game three, we should be picking up a new team - the selection team, i.e.
And why have they named Tendulkar to be vice captain? Is it an automatic choice because no other senior player is around?? What about Ganguly ??? Maybe they shouldn't have announced a vice-captain.
Rajesh said
ReplyDeleteLetting Shewag sweat a bit is a good thing. The probables indicated is a good list. Laxman for some reason still struggles with getting the nod (most of it is his problem poor running and fielding (interesting that has not impacted runout-ul-haq)
Mahesh, the fact that Sehwag made a 100 in the Delhi Vs Haryana match (and also took more than 5 wkts in that match) does mean something, I am sure. Especially a Haryana that is captained by the comeback-kid Joginder Sharma. However, he needs to do that more and more. Unfortunately, Delhi have no other Ranji games this season. His time may have run out. My feeling is that this is a sweat-on-it-and-then-some move by the selectors. Could work...
ReplyDelete