The national cricket selection panel, led by Sandeep Patil, on Tuesday dashed the frail comeback hopes of “Player of 2011 World Cup” Yuvraj Singh for the 2015 World Cup starting next month in Australia and New Zealand.
There was a chance that Yuvraj’s current form with the bat in Ranji Trophy, in which he scored three back-to-back hundreds, could sway the selectors to include the Punjab dasher, who had been kept in cold storage since December 2013.
Besides 33-year-old Yuvraj, his 2011 teammates like Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir have been excluded from the 15-member Indian squad.
However, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, still recovering from a shoulder injury, and young left-arm spinner Axar Patel have found berths in the team for the World Cup. The selectors picked only those who cleared the preliminary list of 30, which was declared on December 4, 2014.
India’s squad for the World Cup comprises MS Dhoni (captain/wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami, Stuart Binny, Umesh Yadav.