Farewell Gambhir, Sehwag, Yuvraj & Friends

And so while India are being thumped by Australia (4-0 coming your way folks), they also announced their 30 man squad of World Cup 'probables'.

Hang on a minute, thirty probables!? There are eleven members in a cricket team plus a water carrier, add four or five reserves and we have a touring party. What is the point in naming a probables list double the size of the group that will actually show up?

Here's why, it's confirmation of who will not show up.

India's list of omissions is a strange one.  Sure I can understand the concept of 'out with the old and in with the new', but in Indian cricket? Not exactly spoiled with young riches are they?

Lets examine the miss list:

Zaheer Khan - Is very unlucky. This is the best fast bowler India has had since Kapil Dev, with the exception of maybe Srinath. He was a huge reason as to why they won the last world cup (more than Dhoni) and the other options are average other than maybe Bhuvaneshwar Kumar.  What was Zaheer's mistake? Not playing for the Chennai Super Kings?
Selection Credibility - 9/10

No love guys?

Yuvraj Singh - Another unlucky original from the famous 2003 campaign (and the famous 2003 world cup final flop). He is still a class batsman and experience counts especially in alien conditions. They could have easily brought him back for one last hurrah a la Craig McMillan (who at one point had given up cricket to become a salesman), but alas this is probably the end.
Selection Credibility - 8/10

Gautam Gambhir - Lets recount an actual water cooler conversation where someone remarked "Oh my god.... Dhoni's innings in that world cup was amazing, nobody in the world could have played like that".

While the crickets chirped, I dared not to say a word (already am infamous for Dhoni bashing), but sanity prevailed with a wiser one nearby "..... actually Gambhir's innings is what really turned the match, it was him in fact that won it for India".  Bang on! Although a pathetic Sri Lankan fielding effort helped too (did someone say match fixing?).

Gambhir is interesting, he was very good for a while and had a real future, but instead became pretty much worthless especially outside of India.  A 50/50 selection at the moment, not much to gain, not much to lose.
Selection Credibility - 5/10

Dinesh Karthik - Possibly the most underrated keeper-batsman in the game. He's good enough to bust into the Indian team in any format, but Wriddhiman Saha has obviously been chosen as the next in line after Dhoni. Nothing against Saha, but DK deserves a better career than this.
Selection Credibility - 6/10

Virender Sehwag - Once one of the truly great players of the game.  Despite his reputation of being a stand and slog merchant, his strength was his simplicity and his no-footwork style knew how to get runs regardless of conditions. But time and pies took their toll in the 2010s, and unlike Tendulkar there was no plan B.  A great career, but let him go in peace.
Selection Credibility - 2/10

Harbhajan Singh - Conversely Bhajji was lucky he even had a career that long. A pity because his presence meant someone like Murali Karthik had none. Riding on the wild success of 2001, he shouldn't have even been in the 2011 world cup team let alone this one.
Selection Credibility - 1/10

Sreesanth - Buried underneath this cricketing oddity crying in public, the lifetime ban, out-dancing Shah Rukh Khan in a Shah Rukh Khan show, and bowling like a garden sprinkler gone nuts... there was in fact a high class pace bowler. We're never going to see that again.
Selection Credibility - 0

I'm calling it early, India will not win the world cup or even make the final. Would the likes of Zaheer and Yuvraj pushed them there? Their bag of tricks would have come in mighty handy in a team not built to play out of India.

Farewell to an older generation, and thanks for the memories of better days in Indian cricket.

World Cup 2011 - The Ignored XI

Squad selection is always one of the most debated points preceding a World Cup, usually boiling down to defending the selection of overrated cricketer X, or wrongfully omitted cricketer Y. The latter is more interesting. Hence here is my ‘Ignored XI’, the selection of players who should consider themselves unlucky not to be taking part.

1. Imran Nazir

Capable of doing freakish things with the bat, it seems like he has been completely ignored for some years. The first of my openers.

2. Fawad Alam

An in-form Pakistani batsman who has been consistent and has good temperament under pressure. 

Enough said © Associated Press

3. Irfan Pathan

The ‘Genuine Indian Allrounder’ search was thought to have been finally complete somewhere in the early 00’s. Yes, Irfan lost his way with his form, but that was when the management should have taken initiative, given him some time to rediscover himself, and come back stronger (a la Zaheer and Ganguly). Not to be. 

4. Rahul Dravid

Maybe I was the only one who dreamt that Dravid would make a comeback and boost the technique and temperament of the middle order. After being discarded some time ago for utterly ridiculous reasons, they will regret that when it comes down to the crunch, and a cool head needs to get them home.

We'll take pretty 20's over fighting 70's thanks © Getty Images

5. Mohmmad Yousuf

If you forget the politics just for one moment (as hard as that is), he is their most technically correct and experienced batsman. On paper, this was a truly daft decision. Leaving him out is Pakistan’s loss, and the ‘Ignored XI’s’ gain.

6. Grant Elliott

Given New Zealand’s lack of depth, and how many bits-and-pieces cricketers they are taking to India, this is a weird omission. He has an ODI hundred to his name batting in the middle order, and a match winning knock in the 2009 Champions Trophy. Handy with the ball too. “He was poor in Bangladesh” they say, find me a Black Cap who wasn’t.

7. Albie Morkel

Maybe not so useful with the ball lately, but definitely would be picked on his batting ability. Particularly after proving to be a useful performer in the IPL (given that the cup will take place in India, this is a factor, probably the only time it will be).

8. Peter Siddle

After being one of the very few Australians to come out of the Ashes with his reputation intact, this is a strange omission. At the very least he should have made the XV on backbone alone.

9. Nathan Bracken

Not so long ago, he was regarded as the number one ODI bowler in the world. To be constantly overlooked for the test team was baffling, but not unexpected given Australia loves to segregate in this fashion (Langer, Katich, Bevan). But given that their ODI bowling is fairly depleted, surely an experienced and economical bowler is on the top of the wish list?

10. Sreesanth

Granted, he is a show pony and can leak runs like nobody’s business. But when he does get it right (and lately he has been), he is a proven performer who bowls with pace and penetration, something that almost every Indian bowler in the squad lacks. If Munaf Patel is a bigger threat, you must be joking.

A circus with talent © Associated Press

11. Chris Tremlett

 ‘The Terminator’ has become a favourite of mine. Apparently having the Australians hopping about with good pace and bounce is not enough to make the squad. That too the English one of which only Anderson is a given. From stature alone he’d have the opposition quaking in their boots.

Looking at that squad, my wicket keeper would have to be Dravid, not exactly ideal. But that aside, I think that’s a strong line-up that would challenge any of the other participating teams.