Mumbai:Â The preliminary list of 30 Indian probable for the upcoming World Cup in Australia and New Zealand is to be finalised on Thursday by the national selectors.
The meeting of the five-member selection panel headed by Sandeep Patil is scheduled for 1 pm, Cricket Board (BCCI) Secretary Sanjay Patel confirmed. The preliminary list will be pruned down by January 7 and then sent to the ICC ahead of the February 14-March 29 mega event.
The list may include a few proven but currently out-of-form cricketers. Among the proven performers, who are currently not in top form are Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra.
Yuvraj, who won the Player of the Tournament award in the 2011 World Cup, has been out of form with the bat recently. The 32-year-old left hander has scored only one half century in the recent Vijay Hazare Trophy and failed in the only innings he figured for North Zone in the Deodhar Trophy. It will be difficult for him to get in, especially with two other players of similar style— Ravindra Jadeja and Akshar Patel— have proved their worth in the side.
Another top performer with the bat, who is especially suited for Australian conditions, is Virender Sehwag. The Delhi batsman like Yuvraj, has done little to impress the selection panel in recent times.
His scores, barring an innings of 80 against Haryana in the north zone one-day league, are nothing much to shout about, but he too may be seen as an X factor for his past record. But at 36, he looks a long shot though he said on Tuesday that he was eager to make the cut.
His Delhi opening partner Gautam Gambhir, a member of the victorious 2011 ensemble, has shown much better form and looks the more likely candidate to be among those picked in the preliminary list.
Then there are the experienced North Zone bowlers which include the likes of Harbhajan Singh and left-arm seam bowler Ashish Nehra and it will not be a great surprise if they are picked in the squad because of their experience.
Harbhajan has not been in the selectors’ radar for some time now. With Parvez Rasool getting the nod ahead of him after first choice offie R Ashwin, his chance to make the final XI looks dim.
Nehra is, perhaps, the fittest among the leading left arm pace exponents at present with both Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan still having fitness problems. He has also played regularly in the Champions T20 League and the domestic one-day games and has taken a few wickets too even though at 35, age is against him.
Otherwise, the selectors are expected to retain the 14 names that they selected for the last two home ODIs against Sri Lanka along with players who were rested like M S Dhoni, Ishant Sharma, Varun Aaron, Mohd Shami, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Shikhar Dhawan and R Jadeja.
Bengal batsman Manoj Tiwary, who slammed a brilliant 151 for East Zone against North Zone in the Deodhar Trophy semi-final, is a prime candidate for selection while the selectors might even look at someone like Mumbai Ranji Trophy skipper Suryakumar Yadav for his ability to play blistering knocks as he showed in his innings of 80 for West against South.