MUMBAI: All-rounder Yuvraj Singh has been left out of the India squad which will defend the 50-over World Cup title he helped them win in 2011.

Adjudged player of the tournament when India won the World Cup at home, there was no place for the southpaw in the preliminary squad announced on Thursday.

Gautam Gambhir, who top scored for India in the 2011 World Cup final against Sri Lanka, was also omitted from the squad for the Feb 4-March 29 tournament in Australia and New Zealand.

Fellow opener Virender Sehwag, paceman Zaheer Khan and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh are the three other members from that victorious team who were not considered for the tournament.

The Indian board did not elaborate on the make-up of the squad in a statement issued after the selectors met in Mumbai.

Though all those excluded are prominent names, their omission was not a big surprise since none of the players had featured in India’s recent one-day squads.

Yuvraj returned to international cricket this year following cancer treatment having been named in the squad for the Twenty20 World Cup in Bangladesh but he struggled to regain his form.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, top and middle order batsmen Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin are the only survivors from the successful 2011 squad.

The final 15-man squad will be announced next month.

Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Robin Uthappa, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, Manoj Tiwary, Manish Pandey, Wriddhiman Saha, Sanju Samson, Ravichandran Ashwin, Parvez Rasool, Karn Sharma, Amit Mishra, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Dhawal Kulkarni, Stuart Binny, Mohit Sharma, Ashok Dinda, Kuldeep Yadav, Murali Vijay.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2014