Laxman's Omission from WC Squad. Review on Indian Cricket Team

Now that India’s world cup squad has been announced it is time to reflect upon the team and its prospects at the World Cup .Though the selection has been mostly on expected lines one thing that has come as a surprise is Laxman’s omission from the squad .His recent form in New Zealand has been pathetic but if that is the criteria for selection then no batsman of the current side touring New Zealand should make the squad. Also he had a good series against the West Indies. His replacement ,Dinesh Mongia , though a promising batsman and one who can make good use of the 1st 15 overs had failed in the recent matches in which he was tried out (the most notable one being the ICC Champions trophy final match between India and Sri Lanka which was later abandoned ) . This had led to him being out of favor and eventually being dropped from the New Zealand tour. For one who has been out of International Cricket for so long it is surprising that he is being tried out directly at the World Cup. At least if the selectors had him in mind as a WC probable then the least they could have done was to send him to New Zealand (they can still make amends by packing him of to New Zealand for the rest of the series and give him the necessary match practice on bowler friendly pitches which may prove vital during the World Cup). Another thing which must be noted that in case of injury to any of our big three (Ganguly, Sachin & Dravid) the batting line up suddenly begins to look weak and inexperienced. This could have been avoided with Laxman’s presence in the team .In his current form and state Dinesh Mongia looks unlikely to make the final 11. The only plus point which can happen is that this might cause Tendulkar to go up the batting order at 3 instead of 4 and he may get a fair share of overs to bat which he has not been able to do in recent times thanks to Ganguly and Sehwag .Also this might lead to Sanjay Bangar being included into the final 11 to come after Kaif .He can also act as the 5th bowler if the need arises .But for this he will have to justify the selectors faith in him in the remaining matched in New Zealand with both bat and bowl .The sad part of all this is that Ganguly tends to under-bowl the so called all rounder (Bangar in this case ) in his side as has been seen in the past . So how much the team can benefit from Bangar’s inclusion remains to be seen. Also I cant understand how the selectors plan to continue with Laxman (who will definitely not be in very high spirits after receiving the news of his exclusion form the WC squad ) for the rest of the New Zealand tour ( there are still 5 matches remaining for Gods sake !!!! ).

This looks most likely to be India's final 11 at the WC.

1)Sehwag 2) Ganguly 3) Sachin 4)Dravid 5) Yuvraj 6) Kaif 7) Bangar 8)Agarkar 9)Harbhajan 10) Srinath 11) Zaheer

However all this speculation will come to nothing provided the existing contracts row is not resolved in time. At least for the sake of Cricket and for millions of Cricket lovers all over the country I hope that the contracts dispute gets resolved and that the Cricketers and the boards will do what really needs to be done … to put Cricket first.!!!!