Indian team for T20 cricket world cup is to be announced on May 4. Here is my pick:
1. Viru
2. Gambhir
3. Raina
4. Yuvraj
5. Dhoni
6. Yusuf Pathan
7. Badrinath
8. Irfan Pathan
9. Harbhajan
10. Zaheer
11. RP Singh
Others
12. Ishant Sharma
13. Pragyan Ojha
14. Praveen Kumar
15. Dinesh Karthik
May be suprising to a few but I have kept Ishant Sharma out of my preferred playing 11. There has been a sharp decline in his wicket taking abilities for the past six months and he has not made any progress at all with his game. It would be a toss up between Pathan and Praveen Kumar to replace him. In swinging conditions either of them can be an handful. Though Praveen is currently a much better bowler than Irfan, I would give Irfan the edge given his far superior batting abilities.
RP Singh is another bowler who is outstanding in overseas conditions -- he gets steep bounce which makes him a different bowler altogether. He has to be in the playing 11.
At no.7, I would prefer Badrinath over Rohit Sharma. Badri has been in fine form in all forms of the game. In the IPL he has been playing well at No. 4 for Chennai. He deserves a look in -- Rohit Sharma has had numerous opportunities and its only fair that Badri gets a fair run.
Dinesh Karthik is in as a back for Dhoni.
As far as selectors go, I think they would prefer Rohit over Badri in the fifteen else expect them to go along with my team.
