Five takeways from India's WC team: Unlucky Vijay, blessed Binny, forgotten Yuvraj

The Indian squad for the ICC Cricket World Cup has been named and it contained few surprises. As expected, Yuvraj Singh didn’t make the cut, Ravindra Jadeja has his captain’s faith and a place in the team — as does the medium-pace allrounder Stuart Binny. The selectors have gone for what can largely be termed as a safe squad. But there are still some individuals who missed out on a spot. Here are our five takeaways from the selection: Opening slot: Rohit Sharma has been very good for India in the shorter format and Shikhar Dhawan can be pretty lethal as well. But how will they do in seaming, swinging conditions? How will they cope with the pace and bounce? Will they do well against the new ball? The opening partnership is crucial in ODIs and if India want to defend their title then these two will need to click. There is back-up in the form of Ajinkya Rahane but given Murali Vijay’s form, it might have made sense to include him instead of one of the three spinners – namely Akshar Patel. [caption id=“attachment_2032603” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Murali Vijay. Reuters[/caption] No place for Yuvraj: There had been some talk of Yuvraj Singh working his way into the squad because of Ravindra Jadeja’s injury. But the selectors chose to keep the faith in the latter. Jadeja is a far better fielder but he has been laid low for the past month with a shoulder injury. The lack of match practice was something that concerned the selectors but MS Dhoni and Duncan Fletcher backed him. The captain and the coach were part of the meeting and seem to have made their preference clear. Stuart Binny the medium-pace bowling allrounder: Looks like Stuart Binny benefited from being the only medium-pace bowling allrounder in contention for a spot in the team. The only other allrounders were Jadeja, Akshar Patel and Parvez Rasool. And given that the World Cup is being played in Australia and New Zealand, Binny has got the nod. But the greater issue here is whether Binny has Dhoni’s confidence — in the past, we have seen him play in matches but not get a bowl. That simply won’t do here. Binny would need to bowl at least five overs in each game to be worthy of a spot in the playing XI. Mohit Sharma misses out: He is good in the death overs and that will be the slot that worries Dhoni the most. Mohit also has a good connect with the Indian skipper and that would have helped. His repertoire of slower balls would have also given the team some good variety. As of now, we have Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Md. Shami, Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma. Mohit is reduced to being and extra along with Dhawal Kulkarni. Three spinners: The pitches in the Test series have been good for batting but will India ever use three spinners in the team? We also have the likes of Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma to fall back on. It could be a case of one spinner too many. Maybe we could have used another batsman. Any which way, India’s batting will really need to click for the defending champions to come out triumphant this time and that will be a big challenge. Squad: MS Dhoni (Captain), Virat Kohli (V Captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Stuart Binny, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Ambati Rayudu, Axar Patel, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Md. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma.