No place for Yuvi, Viru, Gambhir, Bhajji in World Cup probables

MUMBAI: In the summer of 2011, he rose to become India's World Cup hero despite bouts of coughing that eventually was diagnosed as cancer; today, almost four years later, Yuvraj Singh hasn't found a spot even in the 30-man probables' list for the upcoming edition in Australia-New Zealand.
He is not alone though: the national selectors used the axe mercilessly to chop out as many as nine players from that glorious team, including all the biggies who now qualify as veterans: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh.
Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Piyush Chawla and Yusuf Pathan are the others who have been ignored for loss of form, fitness or favour.
With Sachin Tendulkar having retired and Sreesanth banned for life, India's the initial squad for the 2015 World Cup features only skipper MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, R Ashwin and Suresh Raina from the previous edition.
The Indian team, that will aim to defend its title when the tournament begins on February 14, will surely sport a new look with talent, youth and bravado being the common thread. The list bears the stamp of Dhoni who doesn't make any bones about his preferences any longer.
Interestingly, the list includes virtually everybody who was part of the Champions Trophy triumph last year; left-arm chinaman Kuldeep Yadav is the youngest to make the cut at 19, purely on the excitement that he offers.
The selectors have rewarded domestic performers, with batsmen Manoj Tiwary, Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav breaking into the elite group. Wicket-keeper Naman Ojha will consider himself unlucky to miss the bus as he scored consistently for India 'A'.
Each of them will have to make the most of every opportunity from now on to make the final 15 to be picked in three weeks. With an eye on the fast and bouncy tracks Down Under, as many as eight seamers have been handpicked.
As per ICC's rules, those who are not among the probables can also be included which means all is not lost for the excluded ones. But then, of course, there is a caveat: those in this list can also be unceremoniously evicted if their names feature in the sealed envelope that the Mudgal panel has handed over to the Supreme Court.