India's 15 for the World Cup

[Speedboy Salesman]

1. Rahul Dravid (c)
2. Sourav Ganguly
3. Robin Uthappa
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Virender Sehwag
6. Yuvraj Singh
7. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk)
8. Dinesh Karthik (wk)
9. Ifran Pathan
10. Ajit Agakkar
11. Harbhajan Singh
12. Anil Kumble
13. Zaheer Khan
14. Sreesanth
15. Munaf Patel

[vvvrulz]

I hate to bring up a dead and buried issue, but I still feel sorry for VVS Laxman. The guy has match winning hundreds agaisnt Australia and Pakistan, and most at a brisk pace. I feel his batting alone is good enough for number three. His feilding is criticised but look around at that 15, most of the feilding is ordinary as it stands anyway.

However apart from that, not too many other complaints with that squad, if on song, they should be good enough to at least raise a few eyebrows.

[Seamer]

Originally Posted by vvvrulz

I hate to bring up a dead and buried issue, but I still feel sorry for VVS Laxman. .

VVS is a fine player, but i don't think he would be the man for the WC playing in the west indies. If you look at most the teams selected, the batting firepower is awesome and very much attack orientated. Couple that with the small size of the grounds, and you would have to agree that big scores are on the cards and plenty of 6's. This world cup is primed for bashers of the ball, not stylists like Laxman

[Tendlya]

Guess...India selecte dinesh karthik..who is a fine player..no doubts...but...i guess...we cud have been better off without him and instead selected someone like laxman

[mikesiva]

I was thinking along the lines of Kaif, who is also a good fielder - always a plus in ODI cricket!

[batoutofhell]

i am more than happy to see dinesh karthik in the list
the guy has abundance of talent not just behind wickets
he is also a one of the finest outfielder india has produced in the last 6 years
he can also play both aggressive as well as balanced innings if needed
i am happy for dinnu

[Speedboy Salesman]

I do feel sorry for Laxman, I do think he's a fine batsman, but the Indian batting line up looks good to me, although Sehwag is a bit patchy...hopefully he'll get out of it, and his part off spin bowling is a bonus of course, along with Kumble, Harbhajan, Tendulkar etc..

[vvvrulz]

Its unfortunate that one of Uthappa or Karthik will be likely to miss out for the very mediocre Sehwag. Just how many life lines do you offer a batsman, particularly when there is other proven talent waiting around the corner?

Perhaps a long term axing is just the tonic Sehwag needed, much like the Ganguly/Zaheer situation, of course its much too late for that now. Hopefully the next ODI will be do or die for Sehwag in terms of team selection.

[Karthik]

I'm not so sure about Karthik playing if either Uthappa or Karthik have to be dropped to make way for Sehwag.It's important that Sehwag gets into good form because if he starts,he is tough to stop him.

[Nostromo]

Dinesh Karthik had to be included in the squad as a stand-by keeper for Dhoni just in case. But I prefer that he is not automatically chosen as a batsman. He'll not be required if Yuvraj Singh gets his form back.

Also, I am not convinced that Kumble is as good a ODI bowler these days as he used to be. His batting has certainly gone down the drain and if included, I feel he should bat no higher than No:10.

Sreesanth can be a bit hit & miss. He tends to be expensive even while taking wickets and I wonder if someone like VRV Singh would have been better once he got over that no-balling problem.

India's best asset now seems to be the rejuvinated Zaheer Khan. He is bowling brilliantly and can be a matchwinner against any team. Flintoff in particular has struggled against him in the past. I think India should aim to use him like SA use Pollock - in initial long spell of 6 or 7 overs and get as many wickets as possible.