Gambhir not part of World T20 probables

Gautam Gambhir last played for India a year ago, in an ODI vs England in Dharamsala. (File photo)

Gautam Gambhir was not named when the 30-member probables for the upcoming ICC World Twenty20 scheduled to be held in Bangladesh was announced on Friday.
However, senior off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was part of the probables list, while unexpected inclusions were of Delhi all-rounder Rajat Bhatia and Railways leg-spinner Karn Sharma. India’s Under-19 World Cup winning skipper Unmukt Chand and 19-year-old rising star Sanju Samson, a wicket-keeper batsman also made the early cut.
Harbhajan has been rewarded for his IPL performance last season where he was among the top wicket-takers with 24 scalps at an impressive economy rate of 6.15.  The left-handed Gambhir, who is no longer in the Indian ODI or Test team, failed to make the cut alongwith Virender Sehwag, another senior player has been out of the selection radar for some time due to poor form.
Former India opener Chetan Chauhan was surprised that Gambhir wasn’t part of the probables list. “I am surprised and shocked that Gautam is not there in the 30-member list. You want to tell me that the guy is so bad that he is not among the top-30 T20 players in the country,” Chauhan said.
Irfan and Yousuf Pathan, Cheteshwar Pujara and Murali Vijay also did not figure in the list.Bengal’s Ashok Dinda (37 wickets) and Laxmi Ratan Shukla (584 runs and 9 wickets) also failed to make it to the 30-member squad.
Probables: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni, Dinesh Kartik, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Stuart Binny, Mohit Sharma, Kedar Jadhav, Yuvraj Singh, Amit Mishra, Rajat Bhatia, Sanju Vishwanadh Samson, Ishwar Pandey, Umesh Yadav, Unmukt Chand, Mandeep Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Varun Aaron, S. Nadeem, Parthiv Patel, Karn Sharma.