World Cup Squad: India

It seems like only yesterday that India's national selectors got together to pick the team for the 2003 world cup. India were in disarray at that stage, with the garden-like substandard pitches in New Zealand denting the confidence of the batsmen, who struggled throughout the tour. India's pace bowlers had a very good time though, and come the world cup were in fine form, barring the world cup final, which we do not want to talk about.

Anyways, within the next fortnight, India's selector would have named their 15-man squad that will aim to retrieve the world cup that we last won 24 years back in England. Before the series began against the West Indies, it felt like the team were back to square one with an outstanding first half of 2006 being followed by some insipid ODI performances in the Caribbean, the champions trophy and South Africa. Yuvraj Singh's absence was deeply felt, and the lack of runs from the young brigade was disappointing to say the least. This led to the recall of Saurav Ganguly, whose fairytale comeback at Nagpur was a delight to watch. Dada has made it against all the odds, back to the national team, and is now a certainty for the world cup.

Batting:

Openers:

While India have moved Sachin Tendulkar down the order citing a lack of experience in the middle order as the cause, I have no doubt whatsoever that the maestro will be reinstated to his rightful place at the top of the order. Tendulkar is still by far India's best one day player, and it is in India's best interest that he opens the innings. The bigger question is who his opening partner should be? The possible options are Saurav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa and Gautham Gambhir. I would be up for reuniting the Tendulkar-Ganguly combination at the top as I think Ganguly is at his best when the fielding restrictions are at place, and he can take on the best in business to get India off to a flying start. It is a tried and tested opening combination, and have the combined experience of almost 25,000 runs and 650 ODIs between them. If the openers get India off to a good start, it gives the likes of Yuvraj, Dhoni and possibly Sehwag to free their arms in the second half of the innings. If the need does arise some point during the tournament for either Saurav or Sachin to bat in the middle then I would choose Robin Uthappa as my third opener. Uthappa has played just four one day internationals but has been in very good form in domestic cricket and has played very well in the limited opportunities he has got so far. Ideally India should give Uthappa a couple more games at the top before moving back to the Tendulkar-Ganguly combination. Saurav and Sachin should be given at least three ODIs vs Srilanka to get back in the groove as an opening combination.

Middle order:

Flexibility will be the key as far as India's middle order is concerned and rather than choosing players for specific positions it would be best to choose the team and adapt the batting order to the situation. Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni would be my three certainties for the middle order spots in the starting eleven with Virender Sehwag, Dinesh Mongia, Dinesh Kaarthick and Mohammed Kaif competing for the final spot. Dinesh Kaarthick has taken his chances with both hands and performed beyond expectations, and would be a certainty as far as the world cup squad is concerned but I would give him an extended run in the remaining ODIs India have before the world cup before making a call as far as his position in the starting eleven is concerned. It now brings us to the issue of Virender Sehwag. Ever since his test debut Sehwag has been phenomenal as far as his test form is concerned and has contributed with some sparkling one day innings over the years. His off spin is an added bonus as well, and whilst not the quickest on the field, he has taken some outstanding catches. Sehwag is a match winner in the truest sense, and ten overs of Virender Sehwag can not only change the course of a game, but also put it beyond the oppositions reach. His time off should do him a world of good, and provided he makes runs on his comeback against srilanka, he would be my choice to take the missing spot in the middle order. While most of his success has been as opener, his aggressive intent will be invaluable in the middle order when things tend to go off track as far as run rate is concerned. Dinesh Mongia is one player who can feel hard one by the selectors. He played reasonably well in SouthAfrica, and while he certainly didn't set the Thames on fire, his fighting qualities combined with his useful left arm spin should have seen him selected for the home series. Mohammad Kaif had a very good series in the West Indies, making useful runs in the middle order and saving runs on the field. However, a bad run of scores since has pushed him to the sidelines and cast a doubt over his immediate future. Kaif's selecting the squad depends not only upon whether he gets an opportunity vs. the Srilankans, but on the performance of the contenders for the world cup spot.

All rounder:

A single individual never wins a tournament such as the world cup, but if there were one player whose form might well determine India's success at the world cup, it is Irfan Pathan. While his batting has been very good, and improving with each game, his dip in bowling form runs in parallel with India's declining ODI graph last year. Pathan has worked hard at his cricket and done well in the Ranji games. If India can have an in-form Pathan prising out early wickets, it makes a HUGE difference as far as solving the puzzle that is India's team composition. The presence of a genuine all rounder will allow India to play 5 batsmen, a wicket keeper, Pathan and 4 other bowlers. If one of the bowlers has an off day, which can very well happen, India will have a wealth of resources to fall back on in Tendulkar, Yuvraj, Saurav and possibly Sehwag. Whilst they are more than useful 6th and 7th bowlers, it would be a big ask to expect 10 overs from any of them over the entire tournament.

Bowling:

Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar are certainties. They have been bowling very well, especially Zaheer Khan, whose county stint has enhanced his skills as an opening bowler. They are more than useful batsmen to have at 8 and have a good throwing arm as well. Harbhajan Singh has been bowling well, and the second spinning post would be a toss up between Anil Kumble and Ramesh Powar. While Anil Kumble offers tons and tons of experience, Ramesh Powar is a useful bat down the order and has been amongst the wickets. I personally feel it is a tough call to make right now and further evidence would be needed in the remaining odis before a decision can be made either way. The remaining seamer's spot is a difficult one for India. Sreesanth, RP Singh and Munaf patel have been a mixed bag so far, with some good performances being overshadowedby fitness problems and inconsistency.

In summary, I believe that barring places, the rest of the squad is in place for the world cup.

My squad would be as follows, with the last two places being decided after the first two Srilanka odis:

1) Sachin Tendulkar (Vice Captain)
2) Saurav Ganguly
3) Yuvraj Singh
4) Virender Sehwag
5) Rahul Dravid (Captain)
6) MS Dhoni (WK)
7) Irfan Pathan
8) Ajit Agarkar
9) Ramesh Powar/ Anil Kumble
10) Zaheer Khan
11) Harbhajan Singh

12) Dinesh Kaarthick (WK)
13) Robin Uthappa
14) Dinesh Mongia/ Mohammad Kaif/ Suresh Raina
15) Munaf Patel/ RP Singh / Sreesanth