Monday, November 05, 2012

Indian squad for the first two Tests against England



Indian selectors have announced the 15-man squad for the first two Tests of the four-match Test series starting from November 15. Yuvraj Singh is the most notable inclusion in this squad. This hard hitter middle order batsman has made his position in the national team by proving his fitness. He has recovered from lung cancer.
Yuvraj Singh was one of the members of the ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka and he scored a first-class double century last month. He was last seen playing in a Test match against the West Indies in November 2011.
Harbhajan Singh is considered the most surprising inclusion in the squad. Despite his poor performance, he has been included by the selectors for his experience and there were not more options. It has become easier for him to make a place in the squad due to Piyush Chawla’s failure to recover from a thumb injury.
Suresh Raina has been replaced by Murali Vijay. Raina is going through a tough time. His last half-century came in the second Test against New Zealand in Bangalore. M Vijay is the fourth specialist opener in the squad. Vijay’s inclusion in the squad indicates that Ajinkya Rahane might have to play in the middle-order position.
The newly-appointed panel headed by Sandeep Patil arranged their first selection meeting at the Cricket Centre in Mumbai. Indian skipper MS Dhoni was also present at this meeting. However, the meeting did not last long. The selection committee was supposed to announce the squad for the first test but they picked the squad for the first two Tests.
India squad for first two Tests: MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Cheteshwar Pujara, Umesh Yadav, Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha, R Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Ishant Sharma, M Vijay, Zaheer Khan.

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