New Delhi: Virender Sehwag was on Sunday expectedly dropped from the Indian squad as the national selection committee decided to include in-form Cheteshwar Pujara for the series against England, starting at Rajkot on January 11.
ALSO READ:Not a Happy New Year for Tendulkar fans» Nasir Jamshed – Pakistan’s next Saeed Anwar» REVEALED: Reasons why Javed Miandad cancelled his trip to India!»
The squad has been selected for the first three matches and all the other members of the squad that played against Pakistan were retained. Two other non-performers Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma, however, held onto their places despite a string of failures during the past few months.
Sehwag's axe comes on expected lines as he had managed to score only 238 runs in his last 10 matches with a single half century at an average of 23.8.
There were enough hints about his exclusion once the team management decided to drop him from the playing XI for the third and final ODI against Pakistan here today. Gambhir managed to stay in the team as selectors didn't want to risk dropping two senior openers keeping the Test series against Australia in mind.
Sehwag has the highest individual score of 219 in ODIs and has tallied 8273 runs from 251 ODIs with 15 centuries. But at the age of 34 with slowing reflexes and problem with the incoming delivery, it will be very difficult for the dashing opener to make comeback into the shorter format.
Pujara, who has been in terrific form having scored 761 runs in nine Tests with three centuries has also been a prolific limited overs player for India A and Saurashtra.
In the last edition of Challenger Trophy, he had scores of 158, 124 and 78 while leading the India 'B' team. He has so far played 61 List A matches having scored 2735 runs with eight tons and a whopping average of 56.97.
A look at the squad will suggest that Ajinkya Rahane will now get atleast three matches to consolidate his place in the squad while the selectors will certainly keep an eye on Murali Vijay after his good show against England in the warm-up game.
The bowling squad remains unchanged with the trio of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shami Ahmed and Ashok Dinda having done a commendable job considering their limited exposure to international cricket. The experienced among the fast bowlers Ishant Shanta has also managed to hold to his place.
Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra are three spinners in the side led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
The selection of Rohit despite his repeated failures continues to baffle one and all as he has got more than 100 chances to represent the national team (ODIs and T20 included) but never delivered according to his potential.
While senior off-spinner Harbhajan Singh continues to be ignored, Zaheer Khan, who is nursing an injury before he was dumped, is also not expected to make a comeback in the shorter format very soon.
Squad: M S Dhoni (Captain), Gautam Gambhir, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashok Dinda, Shami Ahmed.
PTI
By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.
Cookies Setting
By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device and the processing of information obtained via those cookies (including about your preferences, device and online activity) by us and our commercial partners to enhance site navigation, personalise ads, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. More information can be found in our Cookies and Privacy Policy. You can amend your cookie settings to reject non-essential cookies by clicking Cookie Settings below.
Manage Consent Preferences
Strictly Necessary Cookies
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work or you may not be able to login.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advert as well as help measure the effectiveness of an advertising campaign. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we may not know when you have visited our site, and may not be able to monitor its performance.