India name World Cup squad

India have named their 15-man squad for the World Cup, which includes Virender Sehwag and Irfan Pathan.

Sehwag has been short of runs in recent months, particularly on India’s tour of South Africa. He was dropped for their ODI series against West Indies, but has returned in the middle order for the matches against Sri Lanka. The selectors will be hoping he can repay their faith with some of his explosive strokemaking.

Pathan has been out of favour recently, after sub-standard performances in both forms of the game. He is still capable of doing a job with bat and ball however, but will probably not be in India’s first choice line up.

The squad is led by Rahul Dravid, with Sachin Tendulkar as his deputy. Addressing the media after the announcement, Dravid said of his team’s chances: “I’m excited about the team. But I’m pretty aware, and believe that it’s not about the team you pick or about selection, but about performances. It’s about the key six or seven players, supported by the group, and how they perform that matters. That’s what the focus will be on for me. There might be a couple of names that people may not agree on. But if six-seven players can have a good tournament we will have a good tournament. It depends on the way players stand up and perform.”

Anil Kumble is also in the squad, after returning to the ODI side recently. Left out are batsmen Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina, and spinning all-rounder Ramesh Powar. Three players in the squad, Pathan, Yuvraj Singh and Ajit Agarkar, are all carrying injuries, but India are confident they will be fit come the tournament.

India World Cup Squad
Rahul Dravid (c), Sachin Tendulkar (v-c), Virender Sehwag, , Saurav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, Ajit Agarkar