2015 World Cup Probables: Reputations turn sepia

It’s not a surprising decision really, as none of them have played in an ODI for almost a year, and not one of them had been in any kind of decent form recently. “Why should this be a surprise to anyone?” a selector asked The Indian express. “We have picked players on form and these seniors haven’t been among runs or wickets for a while now. We have gone with a set of players who we think can win the World Cup for us.”

Still, this is a moment of some gravitas. The charismatic Sehwag was one of the great entertainers and high-impact players Indian cricket has ever seen. Yuvraj Singh might have threatened to remain the boy who refused to grow up but matured just in time to be the player of the tournament of the last World Cup. Zaheer Khan was India’s best seamer in modern-day cricket and certainly in the top three of all time. It was Harbhajan, with his temperament, who signalled the arrival of new young India – at times immature but always passionate. And with his tenacity, Gambhir set up a template for many on how to break through from the wilderness of domestic cricket.

All of them were bid a cold goodbye.

It’s difficult to see how any of these five stars can get out of this dead-end. By choosing to play on over the last year, they had not given themselves any chance of bidding a farewell. Each one of them hung on, hoping for a personal revival in form that could get them back but time has a way of running out and moving on.

All the five were from the middle generation – they weren’t from the Tendulkar or Ganguly era of the nostalgic past and they certainly didn’t represent the zeitgeist like a Virat Kohli. They were somewhere in the middle, the bridge between the past and the present, and it appears Indian cricket has decided to severe that link.

Indian cricket isn’t usually known for its ruthlessness and likes to dole out emotional farewells but the selectors have, rightly, decided that a World Cup isn’t the time to get sentimental.

After all, these five weren’t the only ones who were cut out from the team that won the last World Cup. In fact, only four from that team – M S Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and R Ashwin – have survived.

“There was a discussion on everyone and the seniors were also considered [for selection],” said BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel. “But the thought process was to give preference to performers. The youngsters had been doing very well at the domestic level so they could not be ignored. Barring major injuries, the World Cup squad would be from this lot. The captain’s views were also considered.”

The recent numbers of those five are pretty dismal.

* In the last two years, Sehwag averaged just 20.23 in 13 ODIs, while Gambhir managed just 23.5.

* In the recent Vijay Hazare trophy, Harbhajan Singh took seven wickets from six games and Yuvraj Singh eked out 168 runs in five matches.

* Zaheer hasn’t played competitively since the IPL in May and has not even been considered for the upcoming Ranji Trophy due to his injury.

However, sport-watching is rarely about cold logic and the fans tend to develop an intense personal connect with the sporting stars that defy logic. It’s a sentiment that gets enhanced when one learns that the player himself wants that one final piece of action, one last stage to bow out.

Just the other day, ironically, in a promotional event for the ICC where he held aloft the World Cup trophy, Sehwag talked about his dream.

“Good things happen, one never knows. Every player who represents the country dreams of playing in the World Cup and I also still dream of playing in it. Without hope, no one can move forward.” As it has turned out, it’s Indian cricket that has decided to move forward without him and his friends.

‘Didn’t want to pick seniors and drop from final 15’

By: Devendra Pandey

Mumbai: The senior selection committee, on Thursday, picked the probables, leaving out many senior members of the 2011 World Cup team — Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir. The selectors felt that it would’ve been more demeaning had they picked seniors for the World Cup probables and not included them in the final list.

Also to be factored in is the fact that these seniors had hardly enjoyed any outstanding season in the years since 2011 to push their case one last time for a World Cup berth. A selector who wished to go unnamed said that no one had doubted these seniors’ credentials, but looking at the current scenario they didn’t fit in the scheme of things.

BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel too later revealed that selectors had gone for players who were in form and not merely by past reputations. “It will look very sad if we put their names in probables list and then not include them in the World Cup. Performance wise they have not done anything great in the past one year and even players know that. It was better not to take them now instead of building wrong hopes,” a selector said.