A pointer to India's WC composition

The World Cup 15 is to be named midway through the five-match series, and while most places have already been nailed down, the race will be on for a couple of slots.

The selection of leg-spinner Piyush Chawla for the African safari has to mean the Uttar Pradesh lad has emerged as a late contender for a World Cup place. Chawla’s wrist spin and his hard hitting is an obvious asset, though he hasn’t played a one-day international since July 2008. It is likely that, having displaced left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha from the 16-man squad here, he could earn his place in the World Cup 15 too with a decent outing or two here.

Ojha’s omission is as significant as Ravindra Jadeja and Ishant Sharma’s absence. Jadeja has clearly lost out to Yusuf Pathan in the battle of the quasi all-rounders, while at the moment, S Sreesanth appears the more favoured candidate ahead of Ishant, though it is debatable if India will pack the World Cup squad with five pace bowlers. With Zaheer Khan a shoo-in, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar and Munaf Patel will fight it out with Sreesanth for possibly three remaining places.

Virat Kohli’s recent outstanding run has all but secured his berth for the mega event while Yuvraj Singh is too precious a commodity to be overlooked for an event of the magnitude of the World Cup. For all the mountain of runs he has amassed in domestic cricket, Rohit Sharma must pay the penalty for patchy international form and an attitude that has raised several eyebrows. His time, and that of Sourabh Tiwary’s, will come, but that is entirely in their own hands.

India haven’t put out a full-strength squad in a one-day international since late February. Sachin Tendulkar hasn’t played a 50-over international after making that epochal unbeaten 200 in Gwalior against the Proteas, while the likes of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer, Praveen and Harbhajan Singh have missed a fair few matches due to different reasons.

For the first time, the selectors have picked R Ashwin alongside Harbhajan following the Tamil Nadu off-spinner’s exceptional display against New Zealand last month. Ashwin has become something of a Power Play expert, both for the Chennai Super Kings and for India, and came in for unstinted praise from stand-in skipper Gambhir during the New Zealand series.

His enormous variations and the ability to soak in punishment are attributes that have caught the eyes of the men who matter, and while it isn’t time yet for Harbhajan to start looking over his shoulder, Ashwin’s presence could be just the catalyst the more experienced man needs to come into his own.