No Yuvraj
NEW DELHI (AP) – Allrounder Yuvraj Singh was among five prominent India players from the 2011 World Cup-winning squad who were not in a preliminary list of 30 today for the upcoming Cricket World Cup.
Hard-hitting opener Virender Sehwag, left-hander Gautam Gambhir, offspinner Harbhajan Singh, and pace bowler Zaheer Khan were the others missing from the squad for India’s title defence in Australia and New Zealand in February.
Yuvraj, who won four man-of-the-match awards in the last World Cup, scoring 362 runs and grabbing 15 wickets, last played for India in the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh this year.
He underwent treatment for a golf ball-sized tumour near his lungs in early 2012. He came back, but for the latest squad, the national selectors preferred left-handed allrounders Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, and Ravichandran Ashwin are the only survivors from the 2011 squad in the preliminary list.
The deadline for the final 15-man squad is January 7.
India preliminary squad: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Murali Vijay, Ajinkya Rahane, Robin Uthappa, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, Manoj Tiwary, Manish Pandey, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Wriddhiman Saha, Sanju Samson, Ravichandran Ashwin, Parvez Rasool, Karn Sharma, Amit Mishra, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Ishant Sharma, Bhubaneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Dhawal Kulkarni, Stuart Binny, Mohit Sharma, Ashoke Dinda, Kuldeep Yadav.
