I am completely shocked with the 15 member squad selected, but I think the subset of 11 is now obvious. Lets look at the squad first.
1. MS Dhoni
2. Virender Sehwag
3. Sachin Tendulkar
4. Gautam Gambhir
5. Virat Kohli
6. Suresh Raina
7. Yuvraj Singh
8. Yusuf Pathan
9. Harbhajan Singh
10. R Ashwin
11. Zaheer Khan
12. Ashish Nehra
13. Munaf Patel
14. Praveen Kumar
15. Piyush Chawla.
Well, first of all, I did select a team in October and I was seriously looking at Rahul Dravid and Irfan Pathan to be in the squad, but Irfan is still nursing an injury and Rahul, well, is history, as far as the ODI is concerned, sad but true. His experience, especially playing the world cup at home, would have been invaluable.
[Check http://regitpg.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-2011-world-cup-indian-team.html]
So, w.r.t to this squad, I got 4 wrong. But over the last two months, with the kind of form he is in, I expected Sreesanth to be in the team, but he missed out due to injury. I would have certainly gone for an extra keeper. My squad would have been,
1. MS Dhoni
2. Virender Sehwag
3. Sachin Tendulkar
4. Gautam Gambhir
5. Virat Kohli
6. Suresh Raina
7. Yuvraj Singh
8. Yusuf Pathan
9. Harbhajan Singh
10. R Ashwin
11. Zaheer Khan
12. Ashish Nehra [Sreesanth]
13. Munaf Patel
14. Praveen Kumar
15. Piyush Chawla [Parthiv Patel]
I dont understand the need for three spinners. We already have Yuvraj, Pathan, Sehwag and even Sachin, who can bowl 10-12 overs, collectively, every game. Plus, a reserve keeper is very important with Dhoni's back problem. Ashish Nehra is not in greatest of his forms.
Now that we have the 15 announced, the playing 11, in most of the games, would be, in batting order, the following.
1. Virender Sehwag
2. Sachin Tendulkar
3. Gautam Gambhir
4. Virat Kohli
5. Yuvraj Singh
6. MS Dhoni
7. Yusuf Pathan
8. Harbhajan Singh
9. Zaheer Khan
10. Praveen Kumar
11. Munaf Patel
Barring injuries or the unpredictable weather conditions (did I forget to mention the toss), INDIA is still the clear favourite to win. All the Best Team India. Make us proud.
1. MS Dhoni
2. Virender Sehwag
3. Sachin Tendulkar
4. Gautam Gambhir
5. Virat Kohli
6. Suresh Raina
7. Yuvraj Singh
8. Yusuf Pathan
9. Harbhajan Singh
10. R Ashwin
11. Zaheer Khan
12. Ashish Nehra
13. Munaf Patel
14. Praveen Kumar
15. Piyush Chawla.
Well, first of all, I did select a team in October and I was seriously looking at Rahul Dravid and Irfan Pathan to be in the squad, but Irfan is still nursing an injury and Rahul, well, is history, as far as the ODI is concerned, sad but true. His experience, especially playing the world cup at home, would have been invaluable.
[Check http://regitpg.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-2011-world-cup-indian-team.html]
So, w.r.t to this squad, I got 4 wrong. But over the last two months, with the kind of form he is in, I expected Sreesanth to be in the team, but he missed out due to injury. I would have certainly gone for an extra keeper. My squad would have been,
1. MS Dhoni
2. Virender Sehwag
3. Sachin Tendulkar
4. Gautam Gambhir
5. Virat Kohli
6. Suresh Raina
7. Yuvraj Singh
8. Yusuf Pathan
9. Harbhajan Singh
10. R Ashwin
11. Zaheer Khan
12. Ashish Nehra [Sreesanth]
13. Munaf Patel
14. Praveen Kumar
15. Piyush Chawla [Parthiv Patel]
I dont understand the need for three spinners. We already have Yuvraj, Pathan, Sehwag and even Sachin, who can bowl 10-12 overs, collectively, every game. Plus, a reserve keeper is very important with Dhoni's back problem. Ashish Nehra is not in greatest of his forms.
Now that we have the 15 announced, the playing 11, in most of the games, would be, in batting order, the following.
1. Virender Sehwag
2. Sachin Tendulkar
3. Gautam Gambhir
4. Virat Kohli
5. Yuvraj Singh
6. MS Dhoni
7. Yusuf Pathan
8. Harbhajan Singh
9. Zaheer Khan
10. Praveen Kumar
11. Munaf Patel
Barring injuries or the unpredictable weather conditions (did I forget to mention the toss), INDIA is still the clear favourite to win. All the Best Team India. Make us proud.
