Saturday, January 3, 2015

India's Probable World Cup Squad

2015 has arrived. And with it is coming the World Cup Down Under. There are a few weeks to go but the selection deadline is now imminent. January 7th is the deadline for the submission of the final teams. There may still be some changes on account of injuries and other issues though.

India's selectors have already picked a 30 man probable squad and this is going to be pruned down to the final 15 on January 6th. While waiting for the date to arrive, Slipstream Cricket has decided to make its own selections from the probables squad.

This was the squad picked by the selection panel.
Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, Manoj Tiwary, Manish Pandey, M Vijay, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Dhawal Kulkarni, Stuart Binny, Mohit Sharma, Ashok Dinda, R Ashwin, Parvez Rasool, Karn Sharma, Amit Mishra, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, MS Dhoni, Robin Uthappa, Sanju Samson, Wriddhiman Saha

From this list, the XV is being picked. Some of the factors considered.
  • World Cup is being played in Australia, known for big grounds and fast, bouncy pitches, & New Zealand - seaming pitches though the grounds are smaller. Hence lesser role for spinners.
  • Ideal playing XI to comprise of 6 batsmen, 1 wicket-keeper, 3 fast bowlers and 1 spinner with the fifth bowlers duty shared between two batsmen who can bowl. 
  • The remaining 4 slots can go to a reserve batsman, one keeper, one spinner and one fast bowler.
  • Injury update - Jadeja seems doubtful for the World Cup. Bhuvneshwar also hasn't played for some time now.
Now based on this criterion here is my pick for the World Cup
Dhoni, Kohli, Dhawan, Rahane, Raina, Rohit, Vijay, Rayudu, Ishant, Bhuvneshwar, Shami, Umesh, Ashwin, Axar, Uthappa.

There might be case of picking Binny as a seaming all-rounder in place of Vijay but don't think Dhoni has enough faith in his abilities.

Lets see what the selectors have in store for 6th.


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