Yuvraj, Sehwag, Gambhir, Harbhajan missing from WC probables

NEW DELHI: Defending champions India on Thursday announced a 30-man preliminary squad for next year´s World Cup, picking just four players who were part of the winning combination in 2011.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and Ravichandran Ashwin are the only survivors from the squad that defeated Sri Lanka in the World Cup final in Mumbai.

Among those dumped by the selectors were Yuvraj Singh, who was the player of the tournament in 2011, opening batsmen Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, seamer Zaheer Khan and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.

The final 15-man squad will be announced next month. The World Cup is to be played in Australia and New Zealand from February 14 to March 29.

India´s 30 World Cup probables:

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, 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, Ashar Patel, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Dhawal Kulkarni, Stuart Binny, Mohit Sharma, Ashok Dinda, Kuldeep Yadav and Murali Vijay.