India vs Australia 2013: Virender Sehwag dropped for last two Tests

Zeenews Sports Bureau

New Delhi: Struggling Test opener Virender Sehwag has been dropped from the Indian team for the last two Tests against Australia. Can Sehwag ever make a comeback» The selectors did not name any replacement for him which means that either Shikhar Dhawan or Ajinkya Rahane would open the innings with Murali Vijay, who scored a fine century in the second Test. I will make a comeback: Virender Sehwag» Sehwag, who has scored only a century in the last three years, has been struggling in and outside India for quite a long time. One of the reasons India lost badly in England and Australia was the failure of their famed opening pair- Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, who was also dropped before the series for poor show with the bat. Sehwag had failed to fire in five consecutive Tests after getting a hundred in the opening game of the home series against England at Ahmedabad in November-December last year. He was unable to score even a half-century in two home Tests against New Zealand. During India's last overseas tour, in Australia, Sehwag scored just 198 runs in eight innings. Save for Sehwag, no other batsman looked like facing the selectors' axe as they came up with solid performances in the first two Tests. Cheteshwar Pujara, with a double hundred in Hyderabad, was never in doubt, neither was Virat Kohli, who announced his return to form with a hundred in the Chennai Test. The rest of the squad that played the first two Tests has been retained. Though the selectors showed that they were ready to take tough calls on the seniors, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has been retained by them. But there is hardly any doubt that the Punjab spinner would be under scanner during the next two Tests. India lead the four-Test series 2-0. India squad: MS Dhoni (capt and wk), M Vijay, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harbhajan Singh, R Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Ajinkya Rahane, Ashok Dinda, Cheteshwar Pujara.