Top Players missed the bus of world cup: Sambhal Breaking News
Sambhal(Source India TV): With the World Cup approaching in about a month, all the 14 participating nations have finalised their squads after a deliberate effort to acquire the best combination.
Some teams have shown faith in their experienced candidates, some chose to bring young talent while some were forced to leave out their best out due to injuries. Many big names had to bite the dust when it came to selection of the 15-man squad and this didn’t down well among the cricketing fraternity around the world.
Leading the list of the players who were dejected is Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh who is followed by West Indian likes of Pollard and Bravo.
Apart from them Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and New Zealand too have some baffling omissions.
Here's a look at the top cricketers who would be dearly missed in the 2015 World Cup:
1) Yuvraj Singh (India)
Undoubtedly the most shocking omission from Team India for the cricket fans, Yuvraj Singh was not included in the 30 probables announced by the BCCI and even dropped from the contracted players list. His fans took to the social media after the selectors rejected him from the World Cup squad.
However after hitting three consecutive hundreds for Punjab in Ranji Trophy, his name again cropped up for World Cup squad after Ravindra Jadeja left the Australia tour half way due to shoulder injury. But to everyone's surprise the Sandeep Patil-led selection committee chose to include an injured Jadeja and Yuvraj Singh's hopes dashed.
In 2011 world cup Yuvi amassed 362 runs and scalped 15 wickets to win the man of the tournament but soon lost his rhythm soon. After the World T20 final against Sri Lanka in 2014 he was booed by his own fans for his match losing innings.
2) Kieron Pollard (West Indies)
The omission of the Caribbean giant Kieron Pollard from the World Cup squad is nothing but a threat to disintegrate already fractured West Indies set up.
The West Indies all-rounder has surely struggled in the past six months, but his ability to change the game with both bat and ball makes his exclusion a costly mistake by the WICB. His presence in the team would have only added more strength to the bowling as well as fielding department while the middle-order would have also been powered. Teammate Chris Gayle slammed the selector of excluding him from the squad while Pollard himself taunted Clive Lloyd by keeping him fresh for IPL.
3) Dwayne Bravo (West Indies)
Until not long ago country’s first choice for both captaincy and as an allrounder, Bravo finds himself out of favour with West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) since the payment row broke out between the board and players, which also led to the team abandoning India tour midway.
West Indies selectors probably want a new leader and named the inexperienced Jason Holder as captain. Bravo has played 164 ODIs while Holder, who debuted nine years after Bravo first played for the West Indies, has featured in only 21 ODIs.
Bravo was in impressive form with the bat against New Zealand last year and was the team's anchor with scores of 56 not out, 43 not out and 106. He followed up with a 35 versus Ireland and 87 not out against England before going eight innings without a fifty. He didn’t perform in the Indian tour as well after having scored just 27 runs in three matches.
However, Bravo made up for poor form with the bat in those eight innings by snaring 22 wickets. With no doubt, he would have been a potent weapon during the World Cup.
4) Ravi Rampaul (West Indies)
Another match winner omitted from the squad after Pollard and Bravo, experienced speedster Ravi Rampaul was not even included in the list of 30 probables.
The 30-year-old has played nine ODIs in 2014, from which he has 13 wickets at an average of 31.15 and economy rate of 5.57, but in his most recent series in India he took three wickets in two matches while conceding runs at 5.93 an over. Rampaul has featured in 90 ODIs since making his debut in 2003, taking 115 wickets.
In 2011, Rampaul was given an opportunity towards the end when he instantly made his mark with a five-for against India and then sustained his form in the home season, taking 11 wickets in the two-Test series against Pakistan, which was almost three times the haul in his first five Tests. His batting cannot be underestimated. The same year, he smashed an unbeaten 86 against India, the highest score by a No.10 in an ODI.
5) Nathan Lyon (Australia)
He might have been the leading wicket taker in the Test series and burst onto the domestic scene playing T20, but Lyon has never been a regular at international level in short-form cricket. He’s played just eight ODIs and never on Australian soil.
Though regarded as Australia's No. 1 spin bowler, there wasn’t any room for Lyon in the squad assembled by Rod Marsh's national selection panel, despite encouraging returns for him when he was trialled in the ODI team on recent overseas assignments in Zimbabwe and in the UAE against Pakistan. He took 10 wickets at 25.30 at an economy rate of 4.43 in the tour.
Lyon’s omission has given Xavier Doherty an edge with off-spinning allrounder Glenn Maxwell in the squad.
In the past year, Doherty has also played six ODIs for only half of Lyon's wicket tally - five at 45.20 and an economy rate of 4.26.
6) Ryan Harris (Australia)
The 35-year-old speedster has been a livewire for Australia in the recently concluded Test series against India. His six-wicket haul in the Melbourne Test and an overall 10 wickets in three Tests against the visiting Indian brigade only highlight his current form. But to everyone's surprise and utter dismay of Harris, Cricket Australia decided to drop the in-form seamer from their 15-man World Cup squad.
He is one of the best quicks in the world and with Mitchell Johnson he forms a pair that Australia’s World Cup rivals would least like to face.
Harris took 44 wickets in 21 matches between 2009 and 2012 at an average of 18.90. His ODI strike rate of a wicket every 23.4 balls is the best among players to have played 20 matches or more. He hasn’t played an ODI since 2012 which further downed his chances of selection for the tournament.
7) Umar Gul (Pakistan)
A recurring knee injury ended Pakistan premier pacer's dream of playing another World Cup. Following an operation on his troublesome injury last May, Gul has failed to reach match fitness despite a rehabilitation period and will now watch his team play from the confines of his home in Peshawar.
He was the second highest wicket taker for Pakistan in WC 2011 with 14 wickets in 8 matches. He played his last ODI against New Zealand on December 8 but was ruled out for rest of the matches due to his injury.
In 125 ODIs he picked 173 wickets at a bowling average of 28.98 and economy of 5.15
8) James Neesham (New Zealand)
Jimmy Neesham was left out of the 15, the most high-profile omission in a squad that is rich in all-round resources; apart from Elliott, the fifteen includes Daniel Vettori, Corey Anderson and Nathan McCullum.
New Zealand included preferred allrounder Grant Elliott over Neesham for the World Cup, despite the former not having played an ODI since November 2013. The omission remains the most debatable point in the squad of the World Cup co-hosts, considering that Neesham was in the scheme of things and would have been handy on familiar home strips.
He was not given many chances during the Pakistan series having being played just two ODIs in which he scored three runs and took two wickets. Though he shown his class in the test series at home against Sri Lanka where he scored 119 runs in 3 innings with a half century. He also picked up 6 wickets which portrays him as a promising Kiwi all-rounder.
