India select injured quartet in World Cup squad

MUMBAI, (Reuters) – India will gamble on the fitness  of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Praveen  Kumar after the four injured players were included in the final  15-member squad yesterday for next month’s World Cup.

Sachin Tendulkar

Regular openers Sehwag and Gambhir and paceman Kumar missed  the current five-match one-day international series against  South Africa through injury while Tendulkar hurt his hamstring  in Saturday’s second match and returned home.

“Injuries are part of cricket… they are part of life.  Every team has got injury concerns,” Krishnamachari Srikkanth,  chairman of the selection committee, told reporters after  announcing the team in Chennai.

As for the bowling attack, the selectors included four  pacemen and three spinners for the Feb. 19-April 2 tournament  being co-hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Experienced seamer Zaheer Khan will spearhead the pace  attack with support from Kumar, Munaf Patel and Ashish Nehra,  while Harbhajan Singh leads the spin department, backed up by  Ravichandran Ashwin and Piyush Chawla.

Chawla, 22, who bowls legbreak, has played 21 ODIs for India  but the last time he featured in the 50-over format was in July,  2008, in the Asia Cup against Pakistan.

Virender Sehwag

Middle-order batsman Rohit Sharma missed out on a spot as  the selectors opted instead to include a third spin bowler due  to the slow nature of the pitches in the sub-continent.“I think we have selected a very well-balanced team. Don’t  forget that when you play in India, the spinners probably play a  major role,” Srikkanth said, when asked about their decision to  pick three specialist spinners in the squad.

“I am confident that with the kind of balance that we have,  this Indian cricket team, led by (Mahendra Singh) Dhoni, will do  the job for us.”

Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag  (vice-captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli,  Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh,  Ravichandran Ashwin, Piyush Chawla, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar,  Munaf Patel, Ashish Nehra.