Sehwag, Shukla among Cup probables

CALCUTTA, JAN 15: Delhi's Virender Sehwag and Bengal's Lakshmi Ratan Shukla were named among the 30 probables for the World Cup cricket t...

CALCUTTA, JAN 15: Delhi8217;s Virender Sehwag and Bengal8217;s Lakshmi Ratan Shukla were named among the 30 probables for the World Cup cricket tournament to be held in England in May-June. Shukla8217;s teammate in Bengal Ranji team Debang Gandhi, Tamil Nadu8217;s Sadagopan Ramesh, Baroda8217;s Jacob Martin and Madhya Pradesh8217;s Amay Khurasia are also in the probables announced here today by the chairman of selection committee Ajit Wadekar.

There were not many surprises in the list, which will be forwarded to the International Cricket Council soon. This list will be pruned down to 20 by February 28. There might be a problem for the selectors here, as India will not be playing any one-day international matches during this period. 8220;We will have to select the 20 based on previous performances,8221; Wadekar said.

All the 15 currently in New Zealand have been retained in the list. Among the new players, left-handed batsman Vinod Kambli also features in the list along with Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Gagan Khoda, Gyanendra Pandey,Rahul Sanghvi and Saba Karim.

Wadekar and Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary Jaywant Lele made it clear that the final list will have players only from the list of 30 declared today.

A few other names like Rohan Gavaskar, Nikhil Haldipur, Ashish Winston Zaidi, Abhijit Kale, Jatin Paranjpe, Jyoti Yadav, Paras Mhambrey, Nilesh Kulkarni, Sairaj Bahutule, Robin Singh Jr., Sitanshu Kotak and Mohammad Kaif were also considered in the meeting.

8220;The probables have been selected on current form,8221; Wadekar said when asked why Rohan Gavaskar does not figure in the 30. The young Gavaskar, incidentally, has hit a lean patch. In contrast, Lakshmi Ratan Shukla grabbed four crucial wickets for Bengal against Tamil Nadu in the Wills Trophy quarter-final and followed it with a century in the semi-final.

Wadekar informed that the stress had been on all-rounders. Lele felt that Shukla was the only surprise in the team as the Bengal youngster was not being discussed earlier. 8220;He has been playing wellrecently and was included in the list based on this performance.8221;

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The final list of 15 will be declared by March 31 and these players will leave for England on April 24. 8220;We are sending them in advance so that they can acclimatised to the conditions,8221; Wadekar said. The Indian team will play practice matches with county sides there.

The selection committee, chairman Wadekar, Madan Lal, Shivlal Yadav, Ashok Malhotra and Anil Deshpande also selected the India A team which will play the three-day tour opener against Pakistan in Gwalior from January 23. Lele was the convenor of the meeting.

World Cup Probables

Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Debang Gandhi, Sadagopan Ramesh, Gagan Khoda, Rahul Dravid, Mohammad Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Amay Khurasia, Vinod Kambli, Jacob Martin, Nayan Mongia, Saba Karim, MSK Prasad, Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, Ajit Agarkar, Debashish Mohanty, Lakshmi Ratan Shukla, Doda Ganesh, Robin Singh Sr, Nikhil Chopra, GyanendraPandey, Virender Sehwag, Anil Kumble, Sunil Joshi, Rahul Sanghvi, Harbhajan Singh.

India A: VVS Laxman capt, D Gandhi, S Ramesh, J Martin, D Ganesh, LR Shukla, R Sanghvi, Harbhajan Singh, Sitanshu Kotak, Saba Karim, Amay Khurasia, Mohammad Kaif 12th man.