Indian Squad for World Cup announced
Posted by Z on February 12th, 2007
Well, here are the 15 men who are going to be boarding that plane to lovely West Indies for the 2007 Cricket World Cup.
1 Rahul Dravid (capt), 2 Sourav Ganguly, 3 Robin Uthappa, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Virender Sehwag, 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 Mahendra Singh Dhoni, 8 Dinesh Karthik, 9 Irfan Pathan, 10 Ajit Agarkar, 11 Harbhajan Singh, 12 Anil Kumble, 13 Zaheer Khan, 14 Sreesanth, 15 Munaf Patel.
I don’t think the selectors had too much of a choice really. There might have been a case for an additional middle-order batsman (Laxman, Raina or Kaif) in place of either Uthappa or Karthik but the fact is that each of those three had something going against them.
Laxman is a big liability on the field, Raina has not grabbed the opportunities given to him and Kaif has not not really given too many reasons for the management to continue sticking with him. I still feel that Laxman should have been on that plane to the World Cup (what happens when Ganguly or Dravid or Tendulkar gets injured? and Yuvraj hasn’t fully recovered anyway) but he will end his career without having played in a single world cup.
Powar has to be very unlucky to miss out, I don’t see the need for 5 pace bowlers considering the pitches you have in West Indies but again Powar didn’t have a spectacular case for his selection. He was always going to be back up for Kumble and Harbhajan anyway.
The big questions remain:
1) Who is going to open the innings with Saurav Ganguly? Tendulkar or Uthuppa or even Sehwag?
2) Will Pathan recover form and confidence to warrant a place in the starting XI?
It’s going to be interesting to see if the Indian management gives away any indications regarding the final XI over the next two one day internationals in Margao and Visakhapatnam.
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Technorati Tags: 2007 Cricket World Cup., Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar,
February 12th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
Dude “I still feel that Laxman should have been on that plane to the World Cup” you must have been Kidding when you wrote that….. It’s the WORLD CUP not a 5 Test Series…..
Frankly I think we gotta decent 15 Man Robin Uthappa may have been a hasty pick over Raina but I gotta feeling he will click this WC….
And about the Starting 11 I see India playin 6 Batsmen 1 All Arounder and 4 bowlers depending on the conditions….
01.Robin
02.Ganguly
03.Dravid
04.Sachin
05.Sehwag
06.Yuvraj
07.Dhoni
08.Pathan
09.Bhajji
10.Agarkar
11.Munaf Patel
This way we got 4 bowlers bowling 40 and we have Sachin,Sehwag,Yuvraj and Ganguly bowl 10 for us…. and we can bat till no 8 which is pretty good
February 12th, 2007 at 8:11 pm
I feel it will be Sehwag vs Pathan for the all rounder’s place and two pacemen (Agarkar and Zaheer) and the two spinners as the bowlers.
February 12th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
disagree with srihari’s starting lineup. top 7 are ok but then i’ll replace pathan and munaf by kumble and zaheer! no way we’re playing pathan as 4th bowler!
pathan for robin/sehwag depending on pitch and form.
and i think on absolute greentops (don’t know if there are any in WI) sreesanth should replace one of the spinners.
February 13th, 2007 at 2:01 am
Well, they should have taken Kaif. He is a lower order batsman and he has been in quite a few important partnerships with Yuvraj. Plus his excellent fielding.
But then, the question is .. nikaloge kisko? Maybe Zaheer Khan.
February 13th, 2007 at 2:24 am
@Srihari:
Do you remember the South African One day series? None of our batsman could play well. Laxman brings in solidity to the squad, I know he is a HUGE liability in the field but I rather have Laxman going in at 85 for 4 than say a Karthik. That said if Ganguly, Dravid, Tendulkar, Yuvraj, Dhoni and Sehwag bat to their potential an additional batsman will not be needed. I still believe Laxman should have gone to provide adequate cover in case a batsman got injured.
@Kesavan:
Absolutely! Sehwag should (and will) be utilized a lot more as a bowler. 6-8 overs every game.
@Shadows:
Kaif maybe but not in place of Zaheer! Zaheer will be opening the bowling.
February 13th, 2007 at 4:46 am
kaif has lost the many chances he had. u can only hold ur place in the team on the back of fielding alone for only so long..
i am heartbroken for laxman.. there was a case for laxman to be given some chances in the previous games and even before.. alas one of the best indian batsman of his generation (atleast on paper) will not play in a world cup match.
not much qualms with the rest of the squad
February 13th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
Dude K….
Temme honestly outta 10 times how many times do u think Laxman may bring the team from 85 for 4 to max 200…..I mean seriously, for one we all know he is not best runner between wickets and just his elegance isnt gonna bring us the runs…. I wud say he is prob the most stylish player to watch…. yet he doesnt fit in this version of the game….. 2003 World Cup may be he could have been picked guess he was way too unlucky then…. DK has proved his worth as a good fielder, batter and an awesome keeper he may have not played the greatest knock of his career as yet but still any day on current form he is a fair pick man