It is amazing that time flies so quickly, it was just yesterday when we cried in agony of India’s dismal exit from the 2007 cricket world cup. Now that the next world cup is just six months away it is time for the contesting teams to finalize their battalion. All teams are gearing up for the show piece event to be held in the sub continent from February next year. Will there be an end to the Aussie dominance or will a new champion will emerge after 12 years, the question will be answered at the final in Mumbai. India is one of the favorites to lift the cup. M.S.Dhoni & Co have all the ingredients to become world champions for only the second time in history after 1983. They are the reigning test champions and are second in the latest one day rankings.


The more we see of Dhoni growing as leader, the more we begin to expect from this team. He is the most important piece of our world cup puzzle. Captain Cool, as he is often referred by the media is arguably the best captain of our times and has the tremendous ability to pull off things when the chips are down. But a little bit of lady luck is needed to win the world cup and so far he is been blessed by her. Team India has already a pool of 20-25 players from which the final fifteen will be selected for the world cup. The next four to five months will be crucial for the fringe players as they will have to pull up their socks to impress the five wise men of Indian cricket to get into the world cup squad. Team India will be playing lots of one dayers during this period against tough opponents like Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. A few players will select themselves but many spots will be up for grabs in the squad.

Composition of the side most probably may be seven batsmen, two keepers and six bowlers. The Batting line up is more or less packed. With Sachin and Sehwag opening and Gambhir at three, our opening three looks set. Then closely followed by Yuvraj and Raina. This leaves spots for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Players due to miss out will be Ravindra Jadeja, Murali Vijay and Yusuf Pathan. Dhoni will keep the wickets and bat at number five slot. Dinesh Karthik may sneak in as the back up Keeper, though Wridhiman Saha and even Robin Uthappa has an outside chance for making it. Things are not as smooth in bowling department with as many as four places up for grabs. Only Zaheer and Bhajji will select themselves. We must assume India will go in with four pacers and two spinners combo. Rest of the pacers may be picked from a pool of Nehra, Praveen, Ishanth, Sreesanth, Mithun, Irfan and Munaf. Nehra and Praveen Kumar will be most probably on board since they have been playing consistently for India for the last one year or so. I must admit I am not a big fan of Munaf and Mithun being too inexperienced for a center stage, the battle will be between Ishanth, Sree and Irfan. . Sreesanth is more of a test bowler and rule him out too though as a mallu I would love to see him play. He is in my mind without doubt India’s Best Pacer but his attitude is a major cause of concern. My Choice would be Irfan Pathan just because we are playing in sub-continent condition where all the pitches will be slow and low. Moreover Ishant does not look a confident bowler and Irfan’s ability to bat also helps. The Choice of Spinners will be tougher. With Mishra, Ojha and Ashwin as front runners for the post of Harbhajan’s Deputy, the choice will most probably go to Ojha as he is the more experienced. I don’t see Mishra playing because he concedes to many extras and Ashwin is in experienced at this level. Ashwin is a good promising young spinner and he willl be India’s reply for Ajanta Mendis as he can deliver the carom ball effectively. With Kumble retired, Bhajji to would have to pull up his socks quickly as Team India would depend on him the most on home conditions. It is sad that not too may spinners are coming up from our country. Ravindra Jadeja has not lit the stage on fire with any of his performances, he has bee a failure through out.
So my likely fifteen will be: Dhoni©, Sachin, Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Rohit, Virat, Dinesh, Bhajji, Ojha, Zaheer,Irfan,Nehra and Praveen Kumar.


The fact is that we will have to keep our back up ready as well as one of these players especially the fast bowlers will be bound to injury. Team India will be again heavily dependant again on one man, Sachin Tendulkar who will be playing his sixth world cup, the most by any player. Sachin will be hoping to lift the trophy at his home in Mumbai and probably fill up the only blank column on his illustrious resume. This team is a mixture of experience and youth. This will be the third world cup for Bhajji, Sehwag, Zaheer and Yuvraj whereas likes of Dhoni, Nehra, etc. will be playing their second world cup. It will be an experience for Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma as they will face their toughest challenge of their career. Moreover these players will have to play the most of the games in front of their home crowd. With the crowd expecting not more than the cup the players will have a tough time during the period. About all the players should be finalized about two months is advance as they will get time to play out a combination before hand. Zaheer should spear head the bowling, with Praveen and Nehra for swing things are looking ok in the pace department. Ojha and Harbhajan will be the tweakers and should exploit home conditions to the maximum. Sehwag, Yuvraj and Raina will do the part timers job and hopefully chip in with some wickets as well. Well they say when the going gets tough the tough gets going... Let us hope that the Boys in blue will make us proud once again...