With just 5 ODIs to go, what will be India's WC squad?

[dial_100]

SRT GG Kohli Sehwag Yuv Dhoni Raina Bhajji PK Zak SS let opposition score 350 with our weak bowling, these guys can score it with an over to spare. Trust me on that. Everybody except SS can swing the bat and get the runs. 50 overs are never enough with 8 batsman to play.

[dial_100]

THere is no point having 2 spinners in the team. Because if spinners are not working then none of them would. Sehwag, Yuv, Raina and Bhajji all will be useless. So we can use 20 overs between them but have 3 seamers at leasst to do the job on a friendly wicket. But if any one of these 3 fail, there are Sehwag, Yuv, Raina and Bhajji to share 25 overs between them easily.

[Watson87]

Sehwag GG Sachin Kohli Yuvi Raina Dhoni Bhajji Z Khan Sree Ishant

[yoda]

Sehwag GG Sachin Kohli Yuvi Raina Dhoni Bhajji Z Khan Sree Ishant

Replace Sree with anyone else (including Nehra) and Ishant with Ashwin and that will be my team. With this batting, we just need bowlers to do some containing job, no need for major wicket taking.

[Ram]

The race for the world cup XI heated up a few notches. Deliberately or inadvertently, the decision to send key players to South Africa in advance and play the reserves instead for the Kiwi series proved to be a blessing in disguise for many reasons. Gambhir made a welcome return back to form. The scrap for the middle order spots just got more intense with Kohli’s performances. Yuvraj threatened to strike big, but failed to make a huge impact. But the important thing is that he got to spend time out in the middle. But the positions that saw maximum churn were the no.7 spot, the 3rd seamer spot and the spinner’s slot. The team management will be hard pressed to ignore Yusuf’s head-turning 100. It will be interesting to see how the team will go about tackling this problem. But one thing’s almost certain – They’re definitely going to start off the WC with Yusuf at no.7, especially since Yuvraj’s part-time has been so effective, he can share a significant load of the 2nd spinner’s quota. Munaf made a strong case for his inclusion as the 3rd seamer. With Nehra’s recent struggles, it looks more and more like our first choice seamer combo will be Zak-PK-Munaf, but we will have to wait and see on that. But the most interesting battle of all is going to be the struggle for the lone spinner’s slot. Bhajji is the obvious front-runner, but Ashwin’s strides are impossible to miss. If there’s one thing that every body is talking about vis-à-vis our ODI team, its Aswhin’s ability to bowl under fielding restrictions and take wickets. How will this influence our selection? Will they still play 3 seamers or will they choose to play 2 specialist spinners in Bhajji and Ashwin (which is highly unlikely, coz If they wanted to try out that strategy at all, they would have already done so by now..) One way or the other, its going to be extremely interesting to the see XI we are going to field our for our first match.

[Sachin=GOD]

what is the limit to the number of players in the squad for the World Cup?

[saneindian]

With Ashwin bowling well in the 2nd and 3rd powerplays (and having an ability to bowl in the 1st PP as well), it would not be a bad idea to play both Bhajji and Ashwin in the starting 11.SA, Eng, WI sides we will be playing in round 1 have not played much against Ashwin and with his variations he will definitely trouble them Yusuf with that 100 and 8 wickets in the series has more or less sealed the number 7 spot in the WC team. Sachin Sehwag Gambhir Yuvraj Raina Dhoni Yusuf Bhajji Ashwin PK Zak Kohli Nehra Munaf And if a 15th player is allowed then Parthiv Patel will most certainly take that spot.

[Sachin=GOD]

With Ashwin bowling well in the 2nd and 3rd powerplays (and having an ability to bowl in the 1st PP as well), it would not be a bad idea to play both Bhajji and Ashwin in the starting 11.SA, Eng, WI sides we will be playing in round 1 have not played much against Ashwin and with his variations he will definitely trouble them Yusuf with that 100 and 8 wickets in the series has more or less sealed the number 7 spot in the WC team. Sachin Sehwag Gambhir Yuvraj Raina Dhoni Yusuf Bhajji Ashwin PK Zak Kohli Nehra Munaf And if a 15th player is allowed then Parthiv Patel will most certainly take that spot.

I think we will have to have a reserve keeper in the squad even if we have only 14 players in the squad.

[Ram]

With Ashwin bowling well in the 2nd and 3rd powerplays (and having an ability to bowl in the 1st PP as well), it would not be a bad idea to play both Bhajji and Ashwin in the starting 11.SA, Eng, WI sides we will be playing in round 1 have not played much against Ashwin and with his variations he will definitely trouble them

They're not going to play just 2 seamers. Its not going to happen. They're simply too paranoid about having one of the seamers being expensive in his first spell or the spinner not being able to tie down the batsmen during fielding restrictions, completely oblivious to the stats, all of which point out to spinners, even including part-timers being more economical than seamers b/w overs 15-50 (we dont have enough data for overs 1-10 for spinners). But it is going to be interesting to see how they tackle this problem. Yusuf, for all his inadequacies, can be an important weapon because his explosiveness against spinners can really put opposition captains’ plans in turmoil. Ashwin, with his neat variations, is definitely the X-factor in the bowling. He does something that all fielding captains absolutely LOVE – Take wickets. He has already helped CSK to two titles in the last one year alone. Could he do it for Team India next year?

[cowboysfan]

Replace Sree with anyone else (including Nehra) and Ishant with Ashwin and that will be my team. With this batting, we just need bowlers to do some containing job, no need for major wicket taking.

eh what?.This is cricket !!.the best way to stem the flow of runs is to take wickets as often as possible.

[daryl1985]

With Ashwin bowling well in the 2nd and 3rd powerplays (and having an ability to bowl in the 1st PP as well), it would not be a bad idea to play both Bhajji and Ashwin in the starting 11.SA, Eng, WI sides we will be playing in round 1 have not played much against Ashwin and with his variations he will definitely trouble them Yusuf with that 100 and 8 wickets in the series has more or less sealed the number 7 spot in the WC team. Sachin Sehwag Gambhir Yuvraj Raina Dhoni Yusuf Bhajji Ashwin PK Zak Kohli Nehra Munaf And if a 15th player is allowed then Parthiv Patel will most certainly take that spot.

For me this is the ideal team but i can't see the selector's going in with just 2 quick bowler's especially as YP, Yuvraj and Raina offer further spin bowling options. If faced with a choice i would take Ashwin over Bhajji in the starting XI as i think he is the better ODI bowler at this moment in time. However, Bhajji is a firm favourite with the selectors and within the team so i cannot see Ashwin in the team. Out of interest, i have not seen Ashwin bat too much so i don't know how good he is. How does he rank in comparison to Bhajji batting wise? I feel for Virat Kohli, he has done as much as he possibly could to earn a place in the starting XI but seems destined to stay on the sidelines!

[fineleg]

How does he rank in comparison to Bhajji batting wise?

Battingwise - Bhajji will rank far higher than Ashwin because Bhajji has Intl experience and has scored runs against good attacks. Bhajji will be in the 11. Ashwin is a backup in the squad.

[maniac]

It would be awesome if we found a spot for Dravid...Raina,Kohli,Yuvi might be supremely gifted but I don't trust them, We have too many agressive players/hitters but ODI is also about buildng partnerships and RD SHOULD GET ONE LAST CHANCE. I would say we don't need too may fast bowlers in the squad as everyone are almost on the same level with the exception of Zak.we can cut one fast bowler and add RD to the squad

[Cricket lover]

Present squad is good enough, but its too early to guess, ya after S.A series it will easy to discuss.

[philcric]

Sehwag Tendulkar Gambhir Yuvi *+ Dhoni Raina Y Pathan Ashwin P Kumar Z Khan Nehra Kohli, Bhajji, Sreesanth/Munaf, DKarthik as reserves.

[Sooda]

With Ashwin bowling well in the 2nd and 3rd powerplays (and having an ability to bowl in the 1st PP as well), it would not be a bad idea to play both Bhajji and Ashwin in the starting 11.SA, Eng, WI sides we will be playing in round 1 have not played much against Ashwin and with his variations he will definitely trouble them Yusuf with that 100 and 8 wickets in the series has more or less sealed the number 7 spot in the WC team. Sachin Sehwag Gambhir Yuvraj Raina Dhoni Yusuf Bhajji Ashwin PK Zak Kohli Nehra Munaf And if a 15th player is allowed then Parthiv Patel will most certainly take that spot.

That is possibly the best squad, the tail is pretty handy with the bat too. I just wish our spin attack had a bit of variety though; they are all dissimilar offies but all offies nonetheless.

[IKnowU]

Starting XI Sachin Sehwag Gambhir Yuvraj Raina Dhoni Bhajji Ashwin Ishant PK Zak The batting is deep, and you should be expecting at least 2 players to fire out of each game. The bowling I think will need 3 pacers most of the time depending on the pitch. Bench Yusuf, Kohli, Sreesanth and D.Karthik(even though bcci babus dont give a flip about him). Yusuf is interchangeable with Ashwin. While Kohli for injuries and Sreesanth replacing the out of form bowlers.

[saneindian]

That is possibly the best squad' date=' the tail is pretty handy with the bat too. I just wish our spin attack had a bit of variety though; they are all dissimilar offies but all offies nonetheless.[/quote'] In 1996, Sri lanka had Murali, Dharmsena and Arvinda, three offies, all of different kinds though. Same ways in Bhajji, Ashwin, Sehwag, Raina and Yusuf we have different types of off spiners. Sehwag and Raina more like part time offies, Yusuf and Bhajji the dart throwers and Ashwin with his all sorts of variations and then Yuvraj gives us the variety when needed!

[Sachin=GOD]

In 1996, Sri lanka had Murali, Dharmsena and Arvinda, three offies, all of different kinds though. Same ways in Bhajji, Ashwin, Sehwag, Raina and Yusuf we have different types of off spiners. Sehwag and Raina more like part time offies, Yusuf and Bhajji the dart throwers and Ashwin with his all sorts of variations and then Yuvraj gives us the variety when needed!

I don't think we will go with 2 frontline spinners in the world cup. Ashwin, with all his good work in the past few ODIs, will probably have to sit out and the more experienced Bhajji will be in the starting lineup IMO. We will go with 3 pacers because the selectors fear that if we go with 2 pacers and one of them fails (something which actually happens quite often) then we will be left with only 1 pacer in the death overs.

[gsivak]

Even if the selectors and Dhoni know that Ashwin will be a better bet than Bhajji, they will not drop Bhajji and in a way it is fair. After all Bhajji has worked for the team all these years. It would be cool if they don't make a sentimental decision but I don't see it happening.