The Indian cricket board announced Tuesday that Kumar has
been ruled out because of an elbow injury and the International Cricket Council
has allowed him to be replaced by Sreesanth.
Kumar failed a fitness test Monday after having returned
home before the recent one-day series in South Africa due to the injury.
The other pace bowlers in India's 15-man squad are Zaheer
Khan, Ashish Nehra and Munaf Patel.
Sreesanth, who has taken 75 wickets in 51 matches since his
debut more than five years ago, said he was hopeful of doing well at the
tournament.
“Our fast bowling department is confident of the challenge,”
the 28-year-old paceman told the CNN-IBN news channel. “Our team is a perfect
mix of talent and experience this time.”
India is co-hosting the 14-nation
tournament from Feb. 19 to April 2 along with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and is
the favorite to win the World Cup for a second time following its success in
1983.
India
takes on Bangladesh at Dhaka in the tournament opener.
