India's team selection panel will give a first indication of its upcoming World Cup plans on Tuesday when the selectors sit down to pick the squad for the 50 and 20 overs leg of the England tour. The selection committee, chaired by Sandeep Patil, will pick the squad for 5 ODIs, and one-Twenty20, starting August 25.
It will be interesting to see if the selectors reward fringe ODI specialists who were tried out at the senior level over the last couple of months. Barring a few regulars like Suresh Raina and Ajinkya Rahane, the squad to Bangladesh for 3 ODIs comprised mostly the domestic and IPL performers. And the same lot was given an extended run during India A's recent tour of Australia, which culminated with a successful campaign in the quadrangular one-day competition.
The selectors will have to decide if Suresh Raina, Robin Uthappa and Cheteshwar Pujara - none of whom had a memorable outing in Bangladesh - deserve to remain in contention for the World Cup. Robin Uthappa, the star of the IPL, was one of only 2 India players to have scored a 50 above in Bangladesh. Even though he shone with his captaincy skills during the Emerging Players Tournament in Australia, Uthappa had a mediocre outing with the bat. He scored 134 runs from 7 innings during the tournament.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar whose fitness is being stretched during the 5-Test series in England. Umesh Yadav, one of the stars of the first-class matches on the A tour, is likely to earn his place back in the squad.
Sanju Samson impressed with his during the A tour, including the team. But he will have to compete with the in-form Naman Ojha if the selectors choose to include a wicketkeeper-batsman as back up for MS Dhoni.
The spin duo of Akshar Patel and Parvez Rasool has been steady both in Bangladesh and Australia. But their chances depend on the balance of the squad, which will be finalizing after discussing it with Dhoni and Indian cricket Coach Duncan Fletcher.
The balance of the squad would also determine the fate of Manoj Tiwary, the returning nearly man of Indian team. Tiwary had a decent run in Australia and has also showed his prowess with the ball, picking a 5-for in one-dayers.
