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BCCI announces Probable Squad for T20 World Cup
Gautam Gambhir, Irfan Pathan and Yusuf Pathan were the big names missing in India's list of 30 probables for the World Twenty20 to be played in March and April of this year. Virender Sehwag didn't make it either, but with his abysmal form in the domestic season it was more or less expected. Cheteshwar Pujara and M Vijay missed out too, which is a clear sign the selectors look at them as Test specialists. Yuvraj Singh, who has been dropped from the ODI side, continued to be part of India's Twenty20 plans.
Gambhir last played for India on January 27, 2013. Since being dropped, Gambhir has been part of the India A squad is the series against West Indies A, during which he scored a century. He also scored a Ranji century just before India's squad for South Africa was picked, but that wasn't deemed enough to earn the team's favour back. MS Dhoni even remarked before India left for South Africa that Gambhir continues to be the third-best Test opener in India. However, this selection shows the road back into the side is as long as the rope he was given during his days of poor form when he was in the side.
The Pathan brothers have been out since 2012, but are always considered important because of the dearth of allrounders in India. Irfan, though, had just come back from injury as the Ranji season ended, and got to play only one match, that too as a batsman alone. Yusuf put in one of his better Ranji seasons, averaging 34 with the bat and 15 with the ball. Like his IPL franchise, Kolkata Knight Riders, who chose to not retain him, India have also decided against him.
Harbhajan Singh, who has been retained by Mumbai Indians, will be encouraged he is part of the 30. Other significant non-regulars given hope were Sanju Samson, Rajat Bhatia, Kedar Jadhav, Unmukt Chand, Mandeep Singh, Parthiv Patel, Shahbaz Nadeem and Karn Sharma.
India probables (men) Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, 7 MS Dhoni, 8 Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Stuart Binny, Mohit Sharma, Kedar Jadhav, Yuvraj Singh, Amit Mishra, Rajat Bhatia, Sanju Samson, Ishwar Pandey, Umesh Yadav, Unmukt Chand, Mandeep Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Varun Aaron, Shahbaz Nadeem, Parthiv Patel, Karn Sharma
India probable (women) Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur, Karuna Jain, Smriti Mandhana, Amita Sharma, Poonam Raut, Jhulan Goswami, Niranjana Nagarajan, Shubhalakshmi Sharma, Rajeshwari Gaikwad, Veda Krishnamurthy, Ekta Bist, Sonia Dabir, VR Vanita, Anagha Deshpande, Gouhar Sultana, Archana Das, Sneh Rana, Snehal Pradhan, Shwetha Jadhav, Sushma Verma, Shika Pandey, Madhuri Mehta, Thirush Kamini, Saika Ishaque, Neetu Jaiswal, Meghna Singh, Anita Lodhi, Ritu Dhrub, Asha Joy
