The Hindu : Sport : Selectors rest Dhoni for Sri Lanka Test series

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Sport

Selectors rest Dhoni for Sri Lanka Test series

Special Correspondent

Yuvraj, Irfan Pathan dropped; Rohit, Ojha make it; Harbhajan back

— Photo: AFP

JUST REWARD: The good showing in recent times by Pragyan Ojha (left) and Rohit Sharma have earned the youngsters a call-up to the Indian Test squad scheduled to tour Sri Lanka later this month.

Mumbai: Mahendra Singh Dhoni has opted out of the Idea Cup three-Test series in Sri Lanka. Speculation had been rife that India’s one-day and T20 captain was considering skipping the Test series part of the tour of Sri Lanka.

In three-and-a-half years, Dhoni has played 29 Tests, 115 ODIs, 10 Twenty20 Internationals and the DLF-IPL T20 for Chennai Super Kings.

“He wanted a break and the BCCI acceded to his request,” said Ratnakar Shetty, Chief Administrative Officer, BCCI. Dhoni had formally made a request to the BCCI officials here on Monday evening. He is reported to have conveyed his decision to Dilip Vengsarkar, Chairman of the national selection committee.

While there was clarity in Dhoni’s case when the five selectors met at the Cricket Centre on Tuesday to pick the Indian team for the Test series, BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah did not cite a reason for Yuvraj Singh’s absence from the 16-member squad, though he had mentioned in a press release that S. Sreesanth was not considered because of fitness concerns. In the circumstances it can surmised that Yuvraj has been dropped, a clear setback to his Test cricket ambitions.

Below par show

Yuvraj’s showing with the bat in Test matches, after his 169 against Pakistan at Bangalore, has been below par. Unfit for a major part of the tour of Australia, the selectors were not inclined to stick their neck out in favour of the Punjab left-hander, especially after his poor scores of 0, 5, 12, 0 and 32 against Australia and in the only Test he played against South Africa at Kanpur. One national selector said: “Let him make a claim with a strong comeback in domestic cricket.”

In any case, Yuvraj would have been a passenger with a middle order phalanx in Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman and Sourav Ganguly.

Gambhir makes it

The selectors also felt that Gautam Gambhir had demonstrated a commitment to the team and put enough runs on the scoreboard in the last 18 months.

Rohit Sharma’s inclusion — ahead of S. Badrinath and Suresh Raina — is a clue from the selectors that the Mumbai right-hander has the resources to become a successful cricketer in all forms of the game.

Badrinath has now been made the captain of the India ‘A’ team for the Emerging Players’ Tournament to be played in Australia and Raina has replaced Parthiv Patel in the ‘A’ team for the one-day series against select teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

Mumbai opener Wasim Jaffer has been dropped. He was all at sea against the Australian attack and a 73 against South Africa at Chennai, his highest in a sequence of 13 innings did not cry for his inclusion for the tour. Irfan Pathan’s drop in form went against his selection.

Two ’keepers

Skipper Anil Kumble will have the luxury of two wicketkeepers — Dinesh Karthik and Parthiv Patel. The Gujarat left-hander — thanks to Dhoni’s decision — has been recalled for a Test series after a gap of 44 months. His last Test was against Australia at Nagpur in October 2004. Patel also comes in as a third choice opener.

After serving a BCCI ban of five ODIs, Harbhajan Singh returns to the team. The selectors have opted for left-arm finger spinner Pragyan Ojha ahead of the young wrist spinner Piyush Chawla. The selectors seem to have retained Ojha in the team to ascertain his potential in the traditional form of the game.

The seam attack will be in the hands of Ishant Sharma, R.P. Singh, Munaf Patel and Zaheer Khan.

The team

Anil Kumble (Capt.)

Virender Sehwag

Rahul Dravid

Sachin Tendulkar

Sourav Ganguly

V.V.S. Laxman

Ishant Sharma

Zaheer Khan

R.P. Singh

Dinesh Karthik