India name 15-man squad for World Cup

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NEW DELHI: India on Monday selected a tried and trusted combination for the cricket World Cup despite injury worries over key players, including batting superstar Sachin Tendulkar.

Tendulkar, 37, the world's leading Test and one-day batsman, pulled out of the ongoing tour of South Africa after suffering a hamstring strain during the second one-dayer in Johannesburg on Saturday.

Tendulkar's absence for the remaining three one-dayers further depleted India, who are already missing the injured trio of Virender Sehwag (shoulder), Gautam Gambhir (elbow) and Praveen Kumar (elbow).

But all four were named in a 15-man squad for the World Cup, which opens on February 19 with India playing the first match against co-hosts Bangladesh in Dhaka.

Tendulkar, who has a record 17,629 runs from 444 one-day internationals with 46 centuries, has played just four one-dayers over the past 12 months to preserve himself for Test cricket.

The selectors banked on players who have taken India to second place behind Australia in the official one-day rankings, ahead of Sri Lanka, South Africa and England.

The eight batsmen in the squad include wicketkeeper-captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the hard-hitting Yusuf Pathan, but there was no place for Rohit Sharma.

The only surprise choice was 22-year-old leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, who played the last of his 21 one-dayers more than two years ago, in July 2008.

Chawla, who has claimed 28 one-day wickets, will be joined by two off-spinners Harbhajan Singh and Ravichandran Ashwin, in a three-man spin department.

The squad includes four seam bowlers in Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar and Munaf Patel.

Srikkanth, who was a member of India's only World Cup-winning squad in 1983, was confident the current players would put up a good performance.

India's World Cup squad:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag (vice-captain), Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Ravichandran Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel.
Coach: Gary Kirsten (SA)