Dravid, Irfan not among World Cup probables

MUMBAI - The Indian cricket board Saturday announced a 30-member squad, sans former captain Rahul Dravid and fast bowler Irfan Pathan, for the World Cup that would be held in the sub-continent from Feb 19.

The 37-year-old Dravid, who led the team in the last World Cup, last played in an ODI in 2009 September against the West Indies in the Champions Trophy in South Africa. Irfan has also lost his form and his last ODI was against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2009.

Irfan’s senior brother Yusuf, however, was among the probables along with wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel, who made his comeback in international cricket last month against New Zealand after six years.

Chief selector Kris Srikkanth said the team would perform well in the World Cup.

“As you know there are no big surprises. This is a probables team and everyone selects himself. There is one more month to go to select the final team and we will sit down and think calmly before finalising the team,” Srikkanth told reporters here after the meeting.

“I am confident that the team will do well in the World Cup. They have been doing well in one-day cricket. The World Cup is happening in the sub-continent and I am confident that the team will do well,” he said.

The final 15-member squad would be announced next month.

The list of probables: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, S. Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Ishant Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Murali Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane, Saurav Tiwary, Yusuf Pathan, Parthiv Patel, R. Ashwin, Wriddhiman Saha, Dinesh Karthik, Shikhar Dhawan, Amit Mishra, Piyush Chawla, Cheteshwar Pujara, Pragyan Ojha, Praveen Kumar.