India’s 30 probables for the ICC World Cup to be played in Australia and New Zealand in February-March, 2015 will be selected at the Cricket Centre here on Thursday. The 10 full members of the ICC and four qualifiers — Scotland, Afghanistan, Ireland and the United Arab Emirates — are required to submit the names of the 30 probables to the ICC on or before December 7 and the 15-member team for the tournament on or before January 7, 2015.
The selectors probably began the process of identifying the players — assessing their skills, specifically for the conditions in Australia and New Zealand — from the five-match series against England that India won 3-1.
After the highly-satisfying series win in England, the selectors got a chance to try out a handful of players in the shortened series against the West Indies and the five-match series against Sri Lanka that India won 5-0.
The most important decision the selectors had to take was to play Rohit Sharma immediately after his fitness was known in the warm-up match against the West Indies. Rohit scored a record-breaking ODI score of 264 in the fourth match against Sri Lanka at Kolkata. Then left-arm spinner Axar Patel made the breakthrough by taking 13 wickets in the six matches he played against the West Indies and Sri Lanka.
Even though picking 30 probables may appear to be easy, the selectors will have a substantial number in the basket, especially with so many seamers likely to be in contention. It is to be seen whether the selectors will pick a left-arm seamer like Ashish Nehra who played all five matches in the North Zone one-day league and took seven wickets at 35.57, an experienced off-spinner in Harbhajan Singh and an all-rounder like Yuvraj Singh.
Players like Manish Pandey, Baba Aparajith and Sanju Samson are also in the basket. Virender Sehwag said on Tuesday that he was hopeful of finding a place in the probables.
The following played for India in ODIs since the tour of Bangladesh in June: Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Robin Uthappa, Kedar Jadhav, Cheteshwar Pujara, Manoj Tiwary, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Wriddhiman Saha, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Shami, Varun Aaron, Stuart Binny, R. Vinay Kumar, Ishwar Pandey, Mohit Sharma, Dhawal Kulkarni, R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Karn Sharma, Parvez Rasool, and Axar Patel.
| Mahendra Singh Dhoni One of the most successful captains in Indian cricket history. He has played 88 Tests and has scored 4808 runs at an average of 38.46 with 6 centuries. He is the wicket-keeper and has taken 243 catches apart from 37 stumpings. |
| Virat Kohli The vice-captain of Team India. He will be leading the side in the first Test against Australia in the absence of M.S. Dhoni starting on December 9, 2014. He has played 29 Tests and scored 1855 runs at an average of 39.46 |
| Shikhar Dhawan The left-handed batsman made a swashbuckling debut against Australia. He has played 10 Tests and scored 656 runs at an average of 38.58 |
| Murali Vijay The right-handed opening batsman had made good contributions in the recently concluded England tour. He has played 27 Tests and scored 1706 runs at an average of 36.29 |
| K.L. Rahul The right-handed opener has made healthy contributions for Karnataka and South Zone. He has played 27 First-Class matches at an average of 51.21. He is making his debut series against the Australians |
| Suresh Raina Made a good debut in Test cricket, but was not selected for the Tests for his indifferent form. A match-winner in ODIs and T20s, he is returning to the Test team for the Australian tour. He has played 17 Tests, scored 768 runs at an average of 28.44 |
| Wriddhiman Saha The second wicket-keeper of the team Wriddhiman Saha has played 2 Tests, scored 74 runs at an average of 18.50 |
| Naman Ojha Naman Ojha is also making his Test debut for the Australian series. Ojha has played 103 First Class matches and has scored 7165 at an average of 43.42 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin The off-spinner has proved he is a budding all-rounder. His role as a batsman in Tests has added strength to the Indian batting line-up. The off-spinner has played 21 Tests and scored 894 runs at an average of 38.86. Besides this, he has taken 107 wickets at an average of 28.65 with 7 for 103 being his best. |
| Karn Sharma Karn Sharma proved his worth in IPL matches. He is also a useful batsman down the order. In his 34 First class matches he has scored 1087 runs at an averag eof 25.88. Sharma also has taken 66 wickets at average of 28.87 with 8 for 97 being his best. |
| Ravindra Jadeja A useful all-rounder down the order, Jadeja has played 12 Tests, scored 364 runs at an average of 21.41. He has taken 45 wickets at an average of 30.37 with 6 for 138 being his best. |
| Bhuvneshwar Kumar A genial medium-pace bowler has proved his mettle in the recently concluded England tour. Besides taking wickets, he is also a useful batsman down the order. In 11 Tests, he has scored 343 runs at an average of 24.50. He has taken 28 wickets at an average of 30.25 with 6 for 82 being his best. |
| Mohammed Shami Shami, on his day is a match-winner. His bowling has been appreciated by one and all. In 9 Tests, he has taken 32 wickets at an average of 36.31 with 5 for 47 being his best. |
| Cheteshwar Pujara Pujara's debut was indeed an interesting tale. In his 24 innings, he has made 6 hundreds and 5 fifties with 206 being his highest. He had a mediocre tour against England. Pujara and Kohli are the ones who are expected to shoulder the middle-order for India against the Australians |
| Ajinkya Rahane Another good prospect for Team India, Rahane made healthy contributions against England and South Africa. In 10 Tests, he has scored 678 runs at an average of 39.88. Rahul Dravid describes him as the future of the Indian cricket |
| Rohit Sharma Another elegant batsman who can smash any opponents on his day. Despite having played 124 ODIs, he has played only 7 Tests, scored 489 runs at an average of 48.90 |
| Ishant Sharma Ishant Sharma is the experienced bowler in this team. Who can forget his threatening bowling to Ricky Ponting when India toured Australia? In 58 Tests, he has taken 178 wickets at an average of 36.75 with 7 for 74 being his best. |
| Umesh Yadav Another paceman who is a match winner on his day. Umesh Yadav has played 9 Tests, took 32 wickets at an average of 32.50 with 5 for 93 being his best |
| Varun Aaron The injury-prone cricketer has proved his worth in the recent past for the Indian Team. He has played only 3 Tests, took only 8 wickets with 3 for 97 being his best. But the best is yet to come for Varun Aaron. |
