Cricket World Cup Squads

Host Country 1 - India

MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Piyush Chawla, R Ashwin

Host Country 2 - Sri Lanka

Kumar Sangakkara (capt & wk), Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Thilan Samaraweera, Chamara Silva, Chamara Kapugedera, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis, Rangana Herath.

Host Country 3 - Bangladesh

Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Shahriar Nafees, Raqibul Hasan, Mohammad Ashraful, Mushfiqur Rahim, Naeem Islam, Mahmudullah, Abdur Razzak, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Nazmul Hossain, Suhrawadi Shuvo.

Other Countries: Australia

Shane Watson, Brad Haddin (wk), Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, David Hussey, Cameron White, Tim Paine (wk), Steven Smith, John Hastings, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz, Brett Lee, Shaun Tait, Doug Bollinger.

England

Andrew Strauss (capt), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior, Ajmal Shahzad, Graeme Swann, James Tredwell, Jonathan Trott, Luke Wright, Michael Yardy.

Pakistan

Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal (wk), Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanvir, Ahmed Shehzad.

South Africa

Graeme Smith (capt), Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, AB de Villiers (wk), JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Colin Ingram, Jacques Kallis, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Imran Tahir, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Morne van Wyk (wk)

New Zealand

Daniel Vettori, Hamish Bennett, James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Jamie How, Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson, Luke Woodcock.

Zimbabwe

Elton Chigumbura (capt), Regis Chakabva, Charles Coventry, Graeme Cremer, Craig Ervine, Sean Ervine, Gregory Lamb, Shingirai Masakadza, Christopher Mpofu, Raymond Price, Edward Rainsford, Tatenda Taibu, Brendan Taylor, Prosper Utseya, Sean Williams.

Netherlands

Peter Borren (capt), Wesley Baressi (wk), Mudassar Bukhari, Atse Buurman Tom Cooper, Tom de Grooth, Alexei Kervezee, Bradley Kruger, Bernard Loots, Adeel Raja, Pieter Seelaar, Eric Swarczynski, Ryan Ten Doeschate, Berend Westdijk, Bas Zuiderent.

Kenya

Jimmy Kamande (capt), Seren Waters, Alex Obanda, David Obuya, Collins Obuya, Steve Tikolo, Tamnay Mishra, Rakep Patel, Maurice Ouma, Thomas Odoyo, Nehemiah Odhiambo, Elijah Otieno, Peter Ongondo, Shem Ngoche, James Ngoche.

Ireland

William Porterfield (capt), Andre Botha, Alex Cusack, Niall O'Brien (wk), Kevin O'Brien, George Dockrell, Trent Johnston, Nigel Jones, John Mooney, Boyd Rankin, Paul Stirling, Albert van der Merwe, Gary Wilson (wk), Andrew White, Ed Joyce.

West Indies

Darren Sammy (capt), Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Devon Smith, Sulieman Benn, Nikita Miller, Carlton Baugh (wk), Andre Rusell, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Adrian Barath.

Canada

Ashish Bagai (capt & wk), Rizwan Cheema (vice-capt), Harvir Baidwan, Nitish Kumar, Hiral Patel, Tyson Gordon, Henry Osinde, John Davison, Ruvindu Gunasekera, Parth Desai, Karl Whatham, Khurram Chohan, Jimmy Hansra, Zubin Surkari, Balaji Rao, Hamza Tariq.

IPL Squads

Squads after the IPL Auction: (Overseas players in Italics)

Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay, Albie Morkel, Michael Hussey, Wriddhiman Saha, Dwayne Bravo, Doug Bollinger, Subramaniam Badrinath, R. Ashwin, Scott Styris, Ben Hilfenhaus, Joginder Sharma, Nuwan Kulasekara, Sudeep Tyagi, Suraj Randiv, George Bailey, Faf du Plessis.

Deccan Chargers: Kevin Pietersen, Cameron White, Kumar Sangakkara, JP Duminy, Shikhar Dhawan, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Dale Steyn, Daniel Christian, Manpreet Gony, Chris Lynn, Juan Theron, Michael Lumb

Delhi Daredevils: Virender Sehwag, Irfan Pathan, David Warner, Naman Ojha, James Hopes, Morne Morkel, Aaron Finch, Matthew Wade, Ajit Agarkar, Ashok Dinda, Umesh Yadav, Roelaf van der Merwe, Venugopal Rao, Andrew McDonald, Travis Brit, Colin Ingram, Robert Frylinck

Kings' XI Punjab: Adam Gilchrist, Shaun Marsh, David Hussey, Dinesh Karthik, Stuart Broad, Abhishek Nayar, Praveen Kumar, Ryan Harris, Piyush Chawla, Dimitri Mascarenhars, Nathan Rimmington

Kochi: Mahela Jayawardene, VVS Laxman, Brendon McCullum, S. Sreesanth, RP Singh, Parthiv Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Steven Smith, Ramesh Powar, Brad Hodge, Muttiah Muralitharan, Thisara Perera, Stephen O'Keefe, Owais Shah, Michael Klinger, John Hastings

Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan, Jacques Kallis, Brad Haddin, Shakib-al-Hassan, Bret Lee, Eoin Morgan, Manoj Tiwary, L. Balaji, Jaidev Unadkat, Ryan ten Doeschate, James Pattinson

Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Rohit Sharma, Andrew Symonds, David Jacobs, James Franklin, Munaf Patel, Clint McKay, Moasis Henriques, Aiden Blizzard

Pune Warriors: Yuvraj Singh, Graeme Smith, Robin Uthappa, Tim Paine, Angelo Mathews, Ashish Nehra, Callum Ferguson, Wayne Parnell, Mitchell Marsh, Jerome Taylor, Alfonso Thomas, Jesse Ryder, Murali Karthik

Rajasthan Royals: Shane Warne, Shane Watson, Ross Taylor, Rahul Dravid, Johan Botha, Paul Collingwood, Shaun Tait, Pankaj Singh

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Tillakartane Dilshan, Zaheer Khan, AB de Villiers, Daniel Vettori, Sourabh Tiwary, Dirk Nannes, Cheteshwar Pujara,Charl Langeveldt, Luke Pomersbach, Abhimanyu Mithun, Johan Van der Wath, Rilee Rossouw, Nuwan Pradeep, Jonathan Vandiar, Mohammad Kaif

HISTORICAL TEST SERIES

Everyone had one only question when India left for the Safari Tour. Can the Indian batsmen handle the raw pace of Dale Steyn and the bounce of 6’5” Morne Morkel? I’m not sure whether the question was answered by the famed Indian batting order, but they have certainly proved one thing. India cannot be beaten easily overseas.

The tour actually started on a bizarre note as India went into the first test without a practice game. Eventually they were hammered by the SA bowlers and their Indian counterparts were no-where near matching them. Suresh Raina found the harsh reality that Steyn and Morkel were not bowling to him at the Chepauk but Centurion. People may argue that he didn’t fall to bouncers but it was very much evident that he always searched for it. He paid the price and was eventually dropped.

The Indian bowlers minus Zaheer Khan looked like they were bowling to Men who didn’t know how to bat and were training there. Such was the lack of focus to break a partnership and South African batsmen cashed in. How many times have we seen 200+ score in a session? Pathetic it was. India went down quickly and the question asked earlier seemed that it was a question which had only one choice in a Multiple Choice Question.

So after having played their WARM UP against the South African first XI, India went into the TWO-test series which began on the Boxing Day in Durban. They knew what to expect from the SA bowlers and performed better although not superlatively. The difference came when India took the red cherry. Zaheer Khan was back and sent Smith straight away. It all unfolded in India’s favour and a classy, special, elegant, wonderful innings from VVS Laxman meant India leveled the series with serious help from fast bowlers especially Sreesanth in the second innings.

India fielded brilliantly as well and it was one test match after a long time where the Indian fielding was top-class for the entire 5 days. Rahul Dravid took his 200^th catch a feat that is as recognizable as 600 Test Wickets or 13000 Test runs. The final wicket of Lonwobo Tsotsobe showed Indian fielders expected things to happen every second. So it was 1-1 after 2 games.

Playing at Newlands gives you complete pleasure as the Table Mountains offer a beautiful picture. Tensions were high between the No.1 and No.2 ranked sides and it showed on the field. Finally MS Dhoni managed to call correctly and India bowled well to restrict SA although Kallis played one of the innings of his life. It really was a treat. If his innings was a treat Sachin’s was a feast. He played like he had nothing to worry on the back of his mind and played freely. Gambhir was back and shone as well.

India gave SA a reality-check when they used the conditions to dismiss 6 early wickets in the second innings. Jacques Kallis once again showed his class and made sure India couldn’t even attempt chasing a 300+ score on Day 5. Once Sehwag was gone, it was known that India would settle for a draw. India survived well to end the series at 1-1. Cape Town wicket was excellent.

Three things were not given importance earlier. Rahul Dravid went past 12,000 Test runs which not many players dream of reaching. The Wall made sure his records were as long as the Great Wall of China. A real class act but whose end is increasingly round the corner.

It is not anywhere near for Sachin Tendulkar. Scoring a Test Century is considered very difficult. Ask Shane Warne. Scoring the first ton gives you satisfaction beyond limits. Ask every batsman who’ve done it. Especially Anil Kumble, Ajit Agarkar and Jason Gillespie. To score a half-century of Centuries is something that could never happen in Tests again except probably by Jacques Kallis who chases Tendulkar slowly. Sachin Tendulkar is a man with a mission to score runs and Centuries.

The third is MS Dhoni’s Captaincy. I personally believe it’s the Captain’s decision to force the Board to ask for Warm-up games. Dhoni might have failed in it and in the first test, but he came back strongly in Durban. REMEMBER, this is the FIRST Indian Team to draw a Test Series in South Africa. A lot of questions were asked, rightly so, about Dhoni’s leadership skills tested abroad. Dhoni did well to be the Captain of a team that has now created a new benchmark for the next teams. Well done MS Dhoni, World Cup is not far away.

In the end, all well that ends well. India showed that they continue to be No.1 by performance alone. It was a difficult series but India has done reasonably well, considering that they were thrown away at the start. Remarkable Turnaround.