What are the integrands to win a world cup? No trainer can list the whole thing with exactness but a good all round team, combine of youth plus experience and memories of previous success can surely help. India is the defending champions of Twenty20 World cup and their present squad contains 10 out of 15 players who were part of that exceptional victory couple of year ago. Not only that, Indian Premier League (IPL), which is also a T20 competition, completed just a week ago where all of these 15 Indian cricketers toned up their skills to the maximum. . The only minus point can be burn out. None of these cricketers have had enough rest coming into this second T20 world cup in England and quite a few of them will be playing under shivering cold English condition for the first time in their life! Who are 15 cricketers selected to represent India? Here’s a brief introduction:-

MS Dhoni : Age = 28 years, captain, total T20 games played = 13, runs = 215, highest score = 45, strike rate = 103. 86, skills = wicket keeper, hard hitting right handed batsman (who plays according to situation) and one of the best leaders of a cricket team in his generation. India won inaugural T20 World cup under Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s captainship and man from Jharkhand will be leading similar squad to defend the title. Yuvraj Singh : Age = 27 years, total T20 games played = 10, runs = 262, highest score = 70, strike rate = 164. 77, skills = left handed batsman who is one of only 4 batters to hit 6 sixes in an over. Yuvraj has also developed his left arm orthodox bowling in recent times which made him pick not one but two hat-tricks for Kings XI Punjab in IPL tournament just 2 weeks ago!Virendra Sehwag : Age = 30 years, total T20 games played = 12, runs = 223, highest score = 68, strike rate = 144. 80, skills = right handed opening batsman, ideally suited to utilize 6 power play over at the beginning of every innings. Sehwag also bowls some off-spin but hasn’t been in form of late. Suresh Riana: Age = 22 years, total T20 games played = 4, runs = 99, highest score = 61*, strike rate = 126. 92, skills = left handed number 3 batsman who has been in fine form of late. Riana, an exceptional fielder, is one of the best young batsmen to have come from India in recent time as he can mix aggression with caution with perfection. Riana also bowls tight off-spin in limited over cricket. Gautam Gambhir: Age = 27 years, total T20 games played = 12, runs = 328, highest score = 75, strike rate = 126. 64, skills = left handed opener who was prolific scorer in inaugural T20 world cup that India won. Although Gambhir didn’t score too heavily in recently concluded IPL tournament, he’s one pillar every opposition much dislodge as he plays spinner very well in middle over!Rohit Sharma: Age = 22 years, total T20 games played = 8, runs = 107, highest score = 50*, strike rate = 122. 98, skills = right handed middle order batsman who generally takes his time to get set but can hit big sixes when needed. Rohit is also a useful off-spinner and a very good fielder. Ravindra Jadeja : Age = 20 years, total T20 games played = 2, skills = left handed middle order batsman, left arm orthodox bowler and a good fielder. Jadeja is a whole hearted cricketer with good work ethics and he’s seen as next best thing in Indian cricket. Yusuf Pathan : Age = 26 years, total T20 games played = 4, strike rate = 203. 57, skills = right handed batsman who is one of the hardest hitter of cricket ball in current International cricket. Although not a very good player of swinging ball, Pathan can kill any attack anytime if they don’t trick him out. Yusuf also bowls tight off-spin when required. Irfan Pathan : Age = 24 years, total T20 games played = 13, runs = 120, highest score = 33*, strike rate = 120. 00, wickets = 15, economy = 7. 81, skills = left arm all rounder who can swing new ball like banana, specially in helpful conditions and also a hard hitting lower order batsman. Since this T20 world cup will be played in England’s early season, new white ball is expected to swing and hence, Irfan becomes a trump card for Indian side. Harbhajan Singh: Age = 29 years, total T20 games played = 12, wickets = 11, economy = 6. 55, skills = an off-spinner at peak of his game. Harbhjan has been playing International cricket for over a decade now and understands his plus and minus points. his control over line & length and Yorkers are very hard to hit!Pragyan Ojha : Age = 23 years, total T20 games played = none, skills = left arm spinner who may not have played a single International T20 games as yet, but has performed very well in his 30+ IPL twenty20 tournament. Ojha is also an acrobatic fielder. Zaheer Khan : Age = 30 years, total T20 games played = 4, wickets = 4, economy = 6. 18, skills = left arm medium pace bowler who is spearhead of Indian bowling for last couple of years. Zaheer is the oldest cricketer in this India’s squad for T20 world cup 2009, not a very agile fielder but he has earned his place cause of good record in swinging English conditions. Ishant Sharma : Age = 21 years, total T20 games played = 4, wickets = 2, economy = 9. 00, skills = right handed fast bowler capable of generating speed of over 145kmph regularly. Ishant, 6 feet 6 inches tall, has a specialty to out swing the ball at good pace and he also has good control over his Yorkers. Rudra Pratap Singh: Age = 23 years, total T20 games played = 8, wickets = 13, economy = 6. 82, skills = left arm swing bowler who was one of the leading wicket taker in first T20 world cup couple of years ago. Due to some injuries, RP Singh stayed out of Indian side for over a year but now has made a successful comeback through good performances in IPL 2009 tournament. Praveen Kumar: Age = 22 years, total T20 games played = 1, skills = right handed medium pace bowler who can in swing and out swing the ball at ease if not off he same delivery. Praveen is a surprise selection in Indian squad for T20 world cup but his swing might just do the trick as his country defends its title!

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