From victorious class of 2011, only Dhoni, Kohli, Raina and Ashwin survive

In a clear sign of looking for the future, the national cricket selection panel led by Sandeep Patil today dashed the frail comeback hopes of ‘Player of 2011 World Cup’ Yuvraj Singh for the mega event starting next month in Australia and New Zealand. There was a chance that Yuvraj’s current form with the bat in Ranji Trophy in which he has scored three back-to-back hundreds could sway the selectors to include the Punjab dasher after keeping him in cold storage since December 2013. [caption id=“attachment_1471085” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Yuvraj Singh. AP[/caption] However, the selectors did not think it wise to recall a person who played a stellar role in India winning cricket’s showpiece title in April 2011, but has gone off the boil in ODIs since then. While dashing the hopes of 33-year-old Yuvraj, the selectors also decided to ignore his 2011 teammates like Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir by excluding all of them from the 15-member Cup squad. The selectors picked only from among those in the preliminary list of 30 they had shortlisted on December 4. “Not only Yuvraj Singh but other names were also discussed apart from the 30 probables. There were deliberations between the five selectors and captain Dhoni and coach Duncan Fletcher were on the conference call,” BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel said after announcing the squad. Only four members of the 2011 squad - captain Dhoni, new Test captain Virat Kohli, left-handed batsman Suresh Raina and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin - will now have a chance to make it a World Cup double. Of the quartet, Ashwin was not part of the playing 11 that defeated Sri Lanka in the final at the Wankhede Stadium here on April 2, 2011. PTI