My 15

Its been long time since we have played two spinners. In this world cup, I think we need to think abt such ploy. Ojha is a wonderful spinner, I strongly feel that he shud be in the playing eleven with Bhajji. But looking at current team playing in SA, opportunity to Ojha looks very difficult and we might opt for three pacers in the playing eleven and that would be Munaf for sure, just due to his strength in keeping it simple and not trying too much.

So the 5 Bowlers who would figure in this list are

1)       Zaheer

2)       Praveen Kumar

3)       Bhajji

4)       Munaf

5)       Ojha

Openers;

6)       Tendulkar

7)       Sehwag

Followed By

8)       Gambhir

Looking at the current form though I don’t like but Kohli would easily make into the team at Position 4

9)       Kohli

Position 7 should be Dhoni.

10)   Dhoni

So it leaves us with two of the most important positions of the line up which are gonna be the deciding factors. Position 5 and 6; My first choice would be Yuvi and Raina (again I don’t like this guy but cant help it).

11)   Raina

12)   Yuvi

And these are the two position for which there are another two contenders; Yusuf and Rohit; I think here we need to go for a better bowler which tilts the selection in favor of Yusuf in place of Yuvi but just a presence of Yuvi can keep opposition on their toes even if he is not in the form.

Comparing Raina and Rohit will not result in anything. Both of them are decent players on Indian pitches with more or less similar batting/bowling and fielding capabilities. I guess whosoever plays the initial rounds will remain in the team as a lucky mascot as Dinesh Mongia played in 2003

13)   Rohit

14)   Yusuf

And that leaves us with the last 15^th player who could make it to team and it’s a tough call between extra batsman or extra bowler. Extra batsman under consideration could be Vijay whereas extra bowler under consideration could be Nehra. I think Nehra would make a cut here based on a sheer data that he is the only one who has consistently played ODIs in last 2 years with decent bowling performance.

15)   Nehra

And That’s my 15 for the cup