Only three players from India's 2011 World Cup-winning eleven will be part of the nation's title-defence in Australia and New Zealand. In unequivocal earnest, the selectors have doused the flickering flame that kept hopes of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan alive.
BCCI selectors have picked the 30 men they feel can help keep the Cup in BCCI's cabinet - the Cup India won on the back of Sehwag's 175 in the 2011 tournament opener, Yuvraj's Man-of-the-Series effort, Zaheer's 21 wickets and Gambhir's 97 in the final. None of them will be there, but it's not unfair.
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It's not unfair to drop men who have been out or in and out of the ODI squad for more than a year, haven't performed to shout loud enough for a national recall and are competing with much younger legs.
Sehwag, Yuvraj, Zaheer, Harbhajan and Gambhir will now contemplate their cricket careers after being ignored from the list of 30 probables for the 2015 World Cup. (Getty Images)
To a layman's eye, a 30-member squad may look roomy enough for consolation places, but at the same time it would have been harsh to not offer hope to young, deserving men like Kedar Jadhav, Manish Pandey, Sanju Samson and Dhawal Kulkarni. These are the guys who are expected to serve India over the next decade.
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While you can't take anything away from how vitally the left-out five have contributed to Indian cricket, it can't also overtake 'performance' as the criteria for selection. The selectors' decision to invest in youth and not fall back on ageing veterans, who are not in the thick of action in domestic circuit as well, makes complete sense.
Sehwag is 36, hasn't played an ODI for 23 months; Gambhir, 33, made his last ODI appearance in Jan 2013; Zaheer, 36, has been out of the ODI team for 27 months; 34-year-old Harbhajan's last ODI was more than three years ago; and Yuvraj, the youngest of the lot at 32, was last seen in an ODI in December 2013.
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But the exclusion will be nothing short of a heartbreak for the veterans, who must have sought one last shot at a comeback, but it's hard to believe they didn't expect it.
Having spent decades in the international arena, players are well aware of the standards and numbers required to wear their country's colours. Sehwag, Gambhir, Zaheer, Harbhajan and Yuvraj will certainly know they can't fight their case on those grounds.
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"Of course, there is a possibility that I may never play for India again," Yuvraj had told Wisden India a few days back. "I have considered that...It's always disappointing when you don't make it to the side. But, that said, the last two years have been patchy, up and down. So it's not my call whether I should be picked. Hopefully things will change, and I will be picked again, otherwise life will be very depressing. I can only try and do my best," the left-hander said.
Sehwag, too, had high hopes to be in the probables.
"I also hope that my name appears in the 30-member strong probables list. Every cricketer who plays wants to play in the World Cup for his country. I also still dream and hope even I play in this World Cup," the veteran of three World Cups - 2003, 2007 and 2011 - had said.
Yes, it's bit painful to see your past heroes falling by the wayside, but that's how the game goes. While the show goes on, the showmen keep changing. The change of guard, as they say.
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