The senior national selection committee has, wittingly or unwittingly, replaced one Jalandhar-born tweaker with another! Senior off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was on Thursday dropped from India’s injury-hit squad for the first two ODIs against England.

COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

Bhajji, who picked up only two wickets in as many Tests before getting injured during India’s disastrous tour of England recently, has made way for Punjab leg-spinner Rahul Sharma of Pune Warriors fame. Sreenath Aravind, a medium-pacer who has done well for Karnataka and Royal Challengers Bangalore, is the second uncapped player in the 15-member squad for the Hyderabad (October 14) and New Delhi (October 17) fixtures.

Gautam Gambhir, who missed the ODI series in England because of concussions, has, expectedly, made a comeback to the national team which will be without the services of as many as seven top injured players, including Sachin Tendulkar (toe), Zaheer Khan (ankle and thigh), Virender Sehwag (shoulder) and Yuvraj Singh (finger).Rohit Sharma, Munaf Patel and Ishant Sharma, all of who sustained injuries in England, are also missing. Senior left-arm medium-pacer Ashish Nehra, who had declared himself fit after fracturing a hand during the World Cup, and Yusuf Pathan were ignored.

As reported by DNA in its Thursday edition, Varun Aaron has found favour with the selectors. The Jharkhand pacer was part of the ODI squad that lost 0-3 in England, but didn’t play a single match. Skipper MS Dhoni, for some strange reason, ignored his statemate.

The squad comprises five batsmen — Gambhir, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and Manoj Tiwary, two wicketkeeper-batsmen in Dhoni and Parthiv Patel and an all-rounder in Ravindra Jadeja. Praveen Kumar is the seniormost medium-pacer in the squad which also includes R Vinay Kumar and Umesh Yadav. Ravichandran Ashwin is the other spinner.

Harbhajan’s axing came after his shambolic performance during the Test series in England. Bhajji bowled close to 70 overs at an average of over 143, giving away over four runs an over. It may be recalled that he suffered a stomach injury during the second Test at Nottingham and played no further part on the tour.

Thursday’s selection meeting at the Sheraton Park in Chennai’s Adyar area was the first since the BCCI replaced Yashpal Sharma with Mohinder Amarnath as the North Zone representative.

Chandigarh (October 20), Mumbai (October 23) and Kolkata (October 25) will stage the other three matches. Kolkata will also host the lone Twenty20 International on October 29. The forthcoming assignment will be India’s first at home since winning the World Cup on April 2. Only four from that squad feature in this 15-member party.Squad

MS Dhoni (C&WK), Gautam Gambhir, Parthiv Patel (WK), Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Varun Aaron, Umesh Yadav, R Vinay Kumar, Sreenath Aravind, Rahul Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Praveen Kumar