All nations participating in ICC 2011 World Cup already announced there 15 member squad which will take part in the 10th edition of World Cup hosted by Asia (India-Sri Lanka and Bangladesh).
In 2011 World Cup there will be total 14 numbers of teams divided into two Groups A and B. Group A Consist of Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Canada while Group B includes India, South Africa, England, West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland and Netherlands.
Each team will play with each other in the league round robin and top four teams from each group will qualify for the Quarter Final. If India will able to qualify for the Semi Final or Quarter Final they will play their Quarter Final as well as Semi Final in their home ground regardless of their position during the league stage. Same applied to Sri Lanka as well as Bangladesh.
Here is the Squad of all 14 teams for the World Cup 2011:
Australia:Shane Watson, Brad Haddin (WK), Ricky Ponting (Captain), Michael Clarke, Callum Ferguson, David Hussey, Cameron White, Tim Paine (wk), Steven Smith, John Hastings, Mitchell Johnson, Jason Krejza, Brett Lee, Shaun Tait, Doug Bollinger.
South Africa: Graeme Smith (Captain), Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, AB de Villiers (WK), JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Colin Ingram, Jacques Kallis, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Imran Tahir, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Morne van Wyk (WK).
England: Andrew Strauss (Captain), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Ravi Bopara, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior (WK), Ajmal Shahzad, Graeme Swann, James Tredwell, Jonathan Trott, Luke Wright, Michael Yardy.
Pakistan: Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal (WK), Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, Ahmed Shehzad.
New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (Captain), James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Jamie How, Jesse Ryder, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson, Luke Woodcock, Nathan McCullum, Brendon McCullum (WK), Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Hamish Bennett, Tim Southee.
West Indies: Darren Sammy (Captain), Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Devon Smith, Sulieman Benn, Nikita Miller, Carlton Baugh (WK), Andre Rusell, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Adrian Barath.
Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (Captain), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Shahriar Nafees, Raqibul Hasan, Mohammad Ashraful, Mushfiqur Rahim (WK), Naeem Islam, Mahmudullah, Abdur Razzak, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Nazmul Hossain, Suhrawadi Shuvo.
Zimbabwe: Elton Chigumbura (Captain), Regis Chakabva, Charles Coventry, Graeme Cremer, Craig Ervine, Terry Duffin, Gregory Lamb, Shingirai Masakadza, Christopher Mpofu, Raymond Price, Edward Rainsford, Tatenda Taibu, Brendan Taylor, Prosper Utseya, Sean Williams
Netherlands: Peter Borren (Captain), Wesley Baressi (WK), Mudassar Bukhari, Atse Buurman Tom Cooper, Tom de Grooth, Alexei Kervezee, Bradley Kruger, Bernard Loots, Adeel Raja, Pieter Seelaar, Eric Swarczynski, Ryan Ten Doeschate, Berend Westdijk, Bas Zuiderent.
Canada: Ashish Bagai (Captain & WK), Rizwan Cheema (VC), Harvir Baidwan, Nitish Kumar, Hiral Patel, Tyson Gordon, Henry Osinde, John Davison, Ruvindu Gunasekera, Parth Desai, Karl Whatham, Khurram Chohan, Jimmy Hansra, Zubin Surkari, Balaji Rao.
Ireland: William Porterfield (Captain), Andre Botha, Alex Cusack, Niall O'Brien (WK), Kevin O'Brien, George Dockrell, Trent Johnston, Nigel Jones, John Mooney, Boyd Rankin, Paul Stirling, Albert van der Merwe, Gary Wilson (wk), Andrew White, Ed Joyce.
Kenya: Jimmy Kamande (Captain), Seren Waters, Alex Obanda, David Obuya, Collins Obuya, Steve Tikolo, Tamnay Mishra, Rakep Patel, Maurice Ouma, Thomas Odoyo, Nehemiah Odhiambo, Elijah Otieno, Peter Ongondo, Shem Ngoche, James Ngoche.
Before the 2011 ICC World Cup this will be India last chance to brush the area in which they were lacking and they knows it will be tough series for them. They have never won a test series in South Africa and by considering their number one ranking in Test it will be interesting series.
On their 50 days tour, India will play three match test series, one twenty20 international and five match ODI series.
India will start their tour with the warm-up games. The first test match will be played at SuperSportPark, Centurion from December 16th to 20th, the 2nd test match is schedule to be played at Kingsmead, Durban from December 26th to 30th while the last match of the series will be played from January 2nd to January 6th 2011 at Newlands, Cape Town.
India will then move on to play one off twenty20 international at the FIFA World Cup stadium in Durban. This is the new stadium which was developed to host the FIFA world cup games and is expected attract the biggest crowd to ever attend a cricket match in South Africa. The twenty20 will be played on 9th January 2011.
Five match ODI series will be played on 12th, 15th, 18th, 21st and 23rd January 2011 at Durban, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Centurion respectively.
India v South Africa complete Fixtures Series 2010 Fixtures (All timings are mentioned in GMT+05:30)
After a long and fighting tour of South Africa, India will look forward to return to India with a ODI series to their name. India will look forward to create history when they will take on South Africa in the 5th ODI at Super Sports Park, Centurion.
India will look forward to win the series and start their next campaign that is biggest tournament of this year on high confidence. But for this there batsmen needs to come good on a batting friendly centurion wicket.
At presently series is nicely poised at 2-2, India needs to quickly regroup and sort out their batting woes as they go into the fifth and final cricket one-dayer. India have never won a one day series in South Africa and this will be great opportunity for them to lift the cup just before the mega events World Cup 2011.
In the absence of trio Gambhir, Sehwag and Sachin India failed to get off to good start in the last four ODI’s and that’s the worry of concerned going into the decider at Centurion. There middle order also not showed any consistency apart from in-form Viral Kohli. The batting has come a cropper in the series so far with skipper Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina failing to consolidate on the starts they got.
What will be worrying Dhoni the most is the opening slot as Rohit Sharma's woeful run continues at the top while Parthiv Patel, who replaced an out-of-touch Murali Vijay in the last match, failing to make any impact.
Indian dashing left-handers Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina needs to perform in the 5th ODI, if India have any chance of beating South Africa in the 5th ODI.
South Africa, on the other hand, will be high on confidence after their series-levelling win in Port Elizabeth and would do whatever it takes to prevent India from creating a first on the African soil.
All of there batsmen looked in great form throughout the series despite of collapse in the middle overs. JP Duminy in superb touch and he will eye another match winning inning for his side to seal the series in South African favor.
In the bowling department also Morne Morkel looked unplayable throughout the series, with L.Tososbe continued to pick up the wickets at regular interval in this series. Dale Styen not looked threatening but with accurate line and length Indian batsmen find themselves hard to score of him.
All in all a cracker is in the offing in the final match of the series, which has seen some outstanding competitive cricket from both the sides.
South Africa are likely to go into the game with same XI as they played at Port Elizabeth, but India might consider playing an extra spinner in the squad. So Piyush Chawla likely to get game before the World Cup.
Likely Playing XI for both teams (Match is schedule to begin at 13:30 PM India Time)
South Africa: G.Smith (Captain), Hashim Amla, Collin Ingram, AB Devilliers (WK), JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Johan Botha, Robin Peterson, Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn, L.Tososobe.
After two consecutive wins in the last game, India on a verge of creating history in Port Elizabeth when they take on South Africa in the fourth ODI. If it happens then they will became only third team to do so on South African soil.
It will be first series win for India against Protease in South Africa. Before this series started they have only three wins against South Africa in South Africa but in this series they have already shown to the world that why this team is different from earlier Indian team who visited South Africa.
India will be proud of themselves for what they have done so far in this series without the service of some of there key players Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Praveen Kumar and Virendra Sehwag.
So far both teams struggle with the bat in the series and that’s why we have seen such close encounters in last two ODI. Apart from few performances with the bat from both side no batsmen able to dictate terms. However both teams knows that they are in now or never situation and sealing a key moment in the game will allow them to either win the game or loose it.
Going into the fourth one-dayer, India would not only want to win the series here but also be keen to see their talented batting line-up, which has been a disappointment so far, show some character on the pacy wickets of South Africa.
Indian bowlers on this tour so far performed exceptionally well whether its Zaheer or Muanf or Harbhajan they all came firing all cylinders against South African batting. But India needs some runs from Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli or Suresh Raina going into fourth ODI to create the history millions of fans waiting for.
If we go by record India have played four ODI’s in Port Elizabeth and lost four with highest score is only 179 runs.
By considering the condition here at Port Elizabeth both teams may try to play with one extra spinner in the squad. South Africa might bring Imran Tahir to see how he tackle the International level pressure while India would like to give Piyush Chawla some match practice before heading into the World Cup 2011. Also India is likely to replace Murali Vijay with Parthiv Patel in the Playing XI.
Likely Playing XI for both teams (Match is schedule to begin at 18:00 PM India Time)
Second time in a row we have nail biting finish in the third ODI played between India and South Africa and once again it was India who hold their nerves till end emerge out as a Winner by two wickets to take important lead of 2-1 in five match one day series against South Africa with two more to play on Friday and Sunday.
With needing 221 runs for victory, Indians were struggling at 93/5 in the 25th over when Yusuf Pathan joins Suresh Raina at the crease with more than 100 runs still to get over the line, Yusuf Pathan choosen to go the best way he knows to get the job done. He smashed three sixes and six fours in his inning of 59 run off just 50 balls.
Yusuf Pathan and Suresh Raina out on match winning partnership of 75 runs before S.Raina (37 runs off 47 balls) got out after playing needless shot of prime bowler M.Morkel. At that time India still 53 more runs to win, but hopes of Indians were alive with Yusuf Pathan at the crease but few overs later he was also out caught brilliantly by Morne Morkel at third man on the bowling of Dale Styen which left India at 182/7 in the 40th over.
However Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan when it mattered used all there experience to get India closer to the target of 221 runs but just 13 runs short Zaheer throw it away whiel playing unnecessary stroke which helped South Africa once again to get back into the game.
But in the end Nehra and Harbhajan Singh put on valuable unbroken 15 runs partnership for the 9th wicket to steer India home.
Earlier, Zaheer Khan took three wickets as India bowled South Africa out for 220 with four balls to spare in the third one-day international at Newlands on Tuesday. South Africa were struggling at one stage with 93/4 but thanks to debutant F du Plessis (60 runs off 78 balls) and JP Duminy (52 runs off 59 balls) put on valuable partnership of 110 runs for the sixth wicket to bring South Africa on track to get closer to 250 run mark.
However as they were just starting out to take advantage of batting powerplay they have lost both of the set batsmen in quick succession. In the last six overs they have lost there last six wickets and scored just 20 runs which pulled back South African inning.
After a thrilling win in the second ODI against South Africans, India will look forward to continue their winning tempo going by winning the third ODI against Protease in Cape Town.
So far both teams batsmen failed to perform as per their reputation which is big worry of concerned for the team management and it needs to be sorted out before the World Cup. India who have struggled in both games with the bat somehow manage to defend the total of 190 in the previous game is left with lot to do in the absence of Sachin Tendulkar who returned to India because of minor injury.
Yet again, India will look forward to same performance from there bowlers Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel to not only get wickets but to check the Proteas batsmen so that the batters have an easy job to do, in case they bat second.
Harbhajan Singh, who done well in the last game needs to bowl with same tempo in the middle overs to contain the South African batsmen.
This game will give a chance for both the teams to try out some of the players who have not played in the previous games, the players like Yusuf Pathan will be itching to go into the field to prove few point or two in South African condition.
Apart from Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh and M.S.Dhoni no batsmen looked in good touch whether it’s Raina, Vijay or Rohit Sharma, and if India would like to win the series then any two of these out of form players need to perform as per their reputation with the bat in the remaining game.
South Africa on the other hand looks forward to sort out there long tail by bringing all-rounder Faf du Plessis in place of David Miller or Wayne Parnell.
Likely Playing XI for both teams (Match is schedule to begin at 18:00 PM India Time)
South Africa: G.Smith (Captain), Hashim Amla, Collin Ingram, AB Devilliers (WK), JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Johan Botha, Wayne Parnell, Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn, L.Tososobe.
Indian selectors on Monday 17th January announced the much awaited 15 member squad for the upcoming 2011 World Cup, these are the 15 players who will carry the dream of billions of fan to lift the trophy.
Only Surprise inclusion in the squad is Piyush Chawla who has yet to play an ODI game after 2008, however if we go by Dhoni statement then the main reason for his inclusion was the variety he brings out in his bolwing and he can also bat a bit.
Rohit Sharma, S.Sreesanth, P.Ojha and Ishant Sharma are the players who have missed out. The most surprising exclusion was Rohit Sharma who was not picked for the World Cup.
India’s major concerned ahead of the selection was the injury to some of the key players like Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virendra Sehwag and Praveen Kumar but as per the Indian selector all four will be fit before the mega events get under way.
India's bowling attack for the World Cup will be significantly different from their standard Test attack, with only Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh being named.The fast bowling pair of Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma, and Ojha are all excluded while Munaf Patel, who helped India to a series-levelling victory over South Africa on Saturday, has found a place as the fourth seamer.
The Squad includes three spinners Harbhajan Singh, R.Ashwin and Piyush Chawla. The squad also has only seven specialist batsmen, including MS Dhoni, which might be a worry in case of injuries. With Yusuf Pathan is only one all rounder in the squad.
India World Cup Squad: MS Dhoni (Captain & WK), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Piyush Chawla, R Ashwin.
What could have been an easy and comfortable win for South Africa on 2nd ODI to take an important lead of 2-0 in five match ODI series, in the end it was India who made brilliant comeback to beat South Africa by 1 run to level the five match series 1-1 at Johannesburg.
South Africa made a mess of what should have been a comfortable chase of a below-par total at Wanderers, stumbling in the batting Powerplay and then sinking to a dispiriting defeat in a thrilling finish.
At 152/4 in the 32nd over they were looked all set to wrap the game before 40 over but some poor decision by Smith of taking unnecessary batting powerplay when 2.5 runs an over required some how allowed Indians to get back into the game. In the batting powerplay South Africa lost three important wickets and manages just 20 runs.
The game was still in favor of South Africa with four runs needed with two wickets and more than 8 overs in their bag, but South Africa as many people says chocked it again and couldn’t manage the four runs required and in the process lost last two wickets to allow India to not only comeback in the game but in the series.
Munaf Patel was real star for India who picked up both the openers Amla & Smith earlier and then removed M.Morkel & Wayne Parnell to hand over India a thrilling one-run win over South Africa in the second one-day international at the Wanderers.
South Africa lost their last six wickets for just 37 runs in dramatic collapse to hand over an exciting win for the Indians.
Earlier Indians after winning the toss and batting first manage just 190 runs all-out in their innings. At one stage they were all set to reach 230-240 in there 50 overs but late collapse in the batting powerplay costed them badly. In the batting powerplay they have lost 4 wickets and manage just 14 runs in 5 overs.
Yuvraj Singh top scored for India with 53 runs while M.S.Dhoni scored 38 runs. For South Africa Lonwabo Tsotsobe claimed a career-best 4-22 for South Africa.
After loosing the first ODI by huge margin of 135 runs at Durban, India will look to bounce back in the second ODI to register their first win in ODI in 2011. Loss here at Johannesburg will only make their job difficult and Dhoni knows, they must win 2nd ODI to keep their hopes alive of winning the ODI series in South Africa.
Already plagued by injuries to key players, nothing seemed to have gone right for Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men in Durban as both the batting and bowling left much to be desired. As we have seen with India they always struggle in the first game and then they made their comeback by performing far better and many of the fans will once again hope that there stars will sign at Johannesburg.
India who already came to know that they will play the ODI series without the service of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir also jolted by the injury to pacer Praveen Kumar who could have done much better in these conditions. Pacer S.Sreesanth is also recovering from an elbow injury and the doubt is still over his fitness whether he will able to play the second ODI or not.
Indian team always rely on their batting but the same strength was failed to perform when it matters and they folded like pack of cards at Durban, so Dhoni will be hoping that in Johannesburg there batsmen will show more aggression and intensity which was lacking in the previous game.
The Indian lineup has a number of young but talented players such as Murali Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina but they have to fire when it matters most. Only Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina are performing well and other two have failed to perform on the field as per their reputation.
Indian bowling has also lot of work to do; Ashish Nehra looked in all sort of problem in last ODI and gave away plenty of runs in the six overs he bowled.
On the other hand, South Africa looked more settled squad apart despite of vulnerable middle order. Hashim Amla, AB Devilleirs and JP Duminy all got half-century in the previous game and they hope to continue their good show in the remaining matches in the absence of their prime player Jaques Kallis. Their bowling unit also looked more disciplined and pacy than the Indians.
Watch out for
M.Morkel: He is not a good swing bowler as Dale Styen but with his consistent line and length he can make any trouble any batsmen as we have seen in last game, with two wickets in one over, he setup the game for South Africa nicely.
Yuvraj Singh: Now is the time or it will came never, he has failed to perform with the bat in last few matches and it is really a worry sign for Indian middle order. He is such an important member of the team that every people can only hope for the best at Johannesburg to lead India fight back in the series.
Pitch and conditions
The pitch at New Wanderers, Johannesburg will have less bounce than Durban wicket will assist fast bowler with lot of seam movement. With the overcast condition expected for the match day it will be tricky situation for team winning the toss. However team who wins the toss is most likely to bat first and put challenging total on the board.
Team News
M.Vijay performance with the bat in ODI is terrible, so we might see Yusuf Pathan replacing him in second ODI while Virat Kohli is likely to open the inning with Sachin Tendulkar. In the bowling department also Munaf Patel is likely to be replaced by S.Sreesanth. Other than that team will remain same.
South Africa on the other hand will look forward to persist with same playing XI which mauled India in first ODI by huge 135 runs.
Likely Playing XI for both teams (Match is schedule to begin at 18:00 PM India Time)
South Africa: G.Smith (Captain), Hashim Amla, Collin Ingram, AB Devilliers (WK), JP Duminy, David Miller, Johan Botha, Wayne Parnell, Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn, L.Tososobe.
After winning the only T20 international against South Africa quite comfortably by 21 runs, India start their 2011 campaign on high and look forward to start the ODI series on winning note.
With some of the first choice players (Sehwag & Gambhir) already missing from the Indian squad, India will once again rely on Sachin Tendulkar to give India a flying start from the little master who is making return to the squad after almost 1 year gap.
Some of the Indian Players will have only three opportunities left for them to sign and get selected in the world cup squad. India will play three ODI before selectors sits and pick 15 members squad for the ICC mega event World Cup 2011 on 19th February.
Late Injury to Praveen Kumar, gage a golden opportunity to Ishant Sharma to get back into form and impress the selectors. Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma also needs to perform better to seal their berth for the World Cup. For the off-colour Yuvraj Singh, it is the final chance to convince the selectors that he is the same destructive force which won India many a matches before the stunning slump form.
In the bowling department also there will be fight for the third seamer between Ashish Nehra, S.Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma. Zaheer Khan who was rested in twenty20 game on Sunday is likely to return to the squad for the first ODI.
On the other hand South Africa will be also hoping for some of their young talented players to perform better against India to start the ODI series on brighter note after twenty20 loss.
All in all this series will provide great opportunity for both teams players to prove their metal at highest level.
Watch out for
G.Smith: Graeme Smith who missed the twenty20 international because of hand injury will be raring to go but before that he has to shot out the problem in facing Zaheer Khan. It will be interesting to see how he tackles the Indian prime bowler up-front.
Yuvraj Singh: So far his performance with the bat is below his standard in last few series and it will be his last opportunity to get back into the groove before the World Cup.
Pitch and conditions
The pitch at Kingsmead, Durban is likely to assist fast bowlers. Toss will play an important role since ball tends to move quite a lot in the evening. Team winning the toss would love to bat first and put 260 plus runs on the board.
Team News
Rohit Sharma who hit superb half-century in the twenty20 game might get chance in place of M.Vijay that means Virat Kohli has to open the batting with Sachin Tendulkar. In bowling department also Munaf Patel is likely to take place of S.Sreesanth because of injury.
South Africa will be boosted by the return of the skipper G.Smith, however they have to play without the service of their start player J.Kallis because of injury.
Likely Playing XI for both teams (Match is schedule to begin at 18:00 PM India Time)
South Africa: G.Smith (Captain), Hashim Amla, Collin Ingram, AB Devilliers (WK), JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, David Miller, Johan Botha, Wayne Parnell, Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn.
