The Hindu : Sport : Virender Sehwag shown the door; Pathan, Kaif too dropped

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Virender Sehwag shown the door; Pathan, Kaif too dropped

Special Correspondent

PERSEVERANCE PAYS: Joginder Sharma has been rewarded for his consistent performance in the Ranji Trophy. — File Photo: V.V. Krishnan

Rajkot: The National selectors and India's coach Greg Chappell, on Friday, dropped an out-of-form Virender Sehwag from the Indian squad for the first two one-dayers against the West Indies.

Mohammad Kaif, Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Mongia, Anil Kumble and Irfan Pathan were also shown the door while Sourav Ganguly expectedly staged a comeback along with in-form all-rounder Joginder Sharma. Joginder has been recalled after two years. Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik have been retained.

Sehwag, was, however included in a provisional 30-member squad for the World Cup.

Pujara in probables list

The National selection committee headed by Dilip Vengsarkar, short-listed local lad Cheteshwar Pujara in the 30-member list after his splendid performances against Tamil Nadu and Delhi in particular in the Ranji Trophy. Mumbai middle-order batsman Rohit Sharma, Tamil Nadu skipper S. Badrinath, Delhi paceman Ishant Sharma and Baroda's Rajesh Pawar were named in the probables list that will be sent to the ICC by Saturday.

Sachin vice-captain

The selectors, after a two-hour meeting at the Madhavrao Scindia Stadium, appointed Sachin Tendulkar as vice-captain for the first two matches against the West Indies at Nagpur and Cuttack.

Vengsarkar said: "I spoke to Tendulkar and he agreed to be the vice-captain.'' Tendulkar had stepped down from captaincy after the Test series against South Africa six years ago.

The first question shot at Vengsarkar was the non-selection of India's only triple century maker in Test cricket.

It was after Dravid's request that Sehwag was included in the third Test against South Africa at Cape Town, but on Friday Vengsarkar said that the opener has to get his basics right.

"Sehwag has been out of form for quite some time. He has to go back to the nets and sort out his cricket, his batting basically. He is a fine player and I am sure he will come back. He is an experienced player. He has done well in the past. This break will do him good.''

On Pathan's omission, Vengsarkar said: "He has to bowl well and he has to get wickets also. He has been out of form and I am sure he will find his way again. Kaif and Mongia have been dropped, but Kumble has been given a break.''

It was only in Kumble's case that Vengsarkar said that the leg-spinner would be back for the third and fourth ODIs against the West Indies.

The chairman of selectors justified Harbhajan Singh's inclusion saying: "He has done well in one-dayers. He will bowl well against the West Indies because they have left-handers and an off-spinner will be of great help.''

On Joginder's inclusion, Vengsarkar said: "He's in form, can bat and bowl well."

Probables for the World Cup: R. Dravid (capt.), V. Sehwag, S. Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, M. Kaif, M.S. Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, I. Pathan, Munaf Patel, S. Sreesanth, A. Agarkar, S. Raina, Ramesh Powar, A. Kumble, R.P. Singh, D. Mongia, V.R.V. Singh, R. Uthappa, Dinesh Karthik, S. Ganguly, Parthiv Patel, Zaheer Khan, V.V.S. Laxman, G. Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, S. Badrinath, Ishant Sharma, Rajesh Pawar, Joginder Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara.

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