Surprises unlikely in final World Cup squad

Injuries to top Indian players have made matters interesting ahead of the selection committee meeting for the World Cup, to be held in Chennai on Monday.

A day before the selection of the squad, India on Sunday received a jolt with Sachin Tendulkar returning home from South Africa after pulling a hamstring during the second One-day International on Saturday.

Before this major scare, Virender Sehwag (shoulder injury), Gautam Gambhir (hand injury) and pacer Praveen Kumar (hand injury) have returned home and the selectors would have a lot to ponder over as they pick the 15- member team for the tournament.

Sachin's injury obviously could be a major concern - the BCCI did not provide details while announcing that Parthiv Patel was being flown out to South Africa as his replacement - though a month is still left for India's opening game on February 19 against Bangladesh in Dhaka.

Tendulkar has been in ominous form for the last couple of years, and especially in the just- concluded Test series in South Africa. He and Sehwag are the automatic choices for the opening slots with Gambhir next. Even if Sehwag and Gambhir have not fully recovered as yet, they still have more than a month to get fit and thus can be included in the squad.

Murali Vijay, now playing in South Africa, could be a standby as he figures in the 30 probables announced last month. Like the openers, the middle order batsmen, an important area for any team, also pick themselves. There is little doubt about the selection of Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, and skipper MS Dhoni.

But will Rohit Sharma also find a place? Well, that remains to be seen, depending on how many bowlers the selectors pick.
The selection of Rohit could also depend on whether the selectors opt for a second wicketkeeper or take the bold decision to pick only Dhoni. But Parthiv, who has unjustifiably been ignored for the last few years, has suddenly come into the fray with so many injury scares.

Among the pacers, Zaheer Khan remains their spearhead, though it remains to be seen if the injury- prone left- armer doesn't add to the list of injured.

Munaf Patel, Praveen and Ashish Nehra, who is again a bit risky proposition in the longdrawn tournament considering his fitness history, Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma are expected to be the other members of the pace department. But one or two of these may have to make way to accommodate a second spinner.

Among the spinners, offie Harbhajan has no competition. Although R Ashwin, also an offspinner, is in South Africa, there is no guarantee that he would be picked for the World Cup too.

The selectors might want to have some variety and the selection of leg-spinner Piyush Chawla for the South Africa series is interesting. Who knows, left- arm spinner Pragyan Ojha might make the grade.