In a day from now, the national selection committee will sit down to name the Indian squad for the World T20. TOI has been bringing you a formbook ahead of each match in the IPL and should we turn that into a formbook for the tournament itself and present it to the selectors, they would be in a spot for sure.
This is so because most of those who have featured as match-winners in the first 10-12 days of the IPL do not figure in the 30-man probables’ list and so cannot be picked. So, let us look at what the selectors will be missing.
If one were to start with the captain, then think no further than Anil Kumble. Not just captaincy, Kumble has the bowling to back him too. Where Harbhajan Singh has got four wickets from as many matches, Kumble has five from five but when you turn to the economy rate, Kumble's is an impressive 5.09, while Harbhajan has been taken for 7.14.
It is not just Kumble who is running away with the honours, take KKR's forgotten left-arm spinner Murali Kartik, whose four wickets have come at an economy rate of 5.57 whereas the man in the probables list, Pragyan Ojha of Deccan Chargers, has the same four but at 7.12.
Among batsmen, leading the run-scorer's list among non-probables' list is none other than Tendulkar (176 from four games with a strike rate of 155.75 and average of 58.66). Of course, Tendulkar has reiterated that he is not interested in World T20.
Mumbai Indians' Saurabh Tiwary has been a revelation this season. Tiwary (169, 146.95, 42.25) follows Tendulkar closely along with RCB's Robin Uthappa who has 162 runs from five matches with a strike rate of 178.02 and a superb average of 54. Even Irfan Pathan has had a good run with the bat.
Compare their showings with some of the certainties. While Virender Sehwag has blasted away to 186 runs from five games, Yuvraj Singh has a mere 60 runs from four games and Suresh Raina a poor 97 from five. Why, someone like Manish Pandey has rattled up 140 runs from five games, perennial hope Rohit Sharma pales with 78 from four matches.
Among the pacemen, Praveen Kumar (7 wickets with an economy rate of 6.75) has done reasonably well, Ishant Sharma has taken six at an expensive 8.65 an over while S Sreesanth has taken a real beating, his two wickets (prior to Wednesday's match) literally bought at 10.63 an over.
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