




Apart from Sehwag—who has been dropped from ODIs and not included in the Test squad — Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel and Irfan Pathan, till recently regarded as vital cogs in the Indian Cricket team’s scheme of things, have been ignored from the forthcoming tours of Ireland and England.
The decision on Sehwag came at a point when his recent performances in the Afro-Asia Cup has been encouraging with two quickfire knocks of 45 and 52 and though the committee deliberated on him for quite some time, reports suggest that Sehwag’s manner of throwing away his wicket after getting good starts despite repeated warning irked the wise men more than his current form.
Harbhajan’s form is also the reason for the off-spinner not making a comeback. “Harbhajan needs to get wickets, go back to domestic cricket and bowl well,” said Vengsarkar, while about Munaf, he added: “The committee was not completely convinced 100 per cent about his recovery from back injury and with Irfan, we want him to play a few more matches at home.”
VRV Singh and Rajesh Pawar—with the latter yet to make his debut —have been omitted from the Test team that featured in Bangladesh while Dinesh Mongia and injured Manoj Tiwary are the other casualties in the ODI side as the BCCI selection committee that met in the capital selected separate squads that would do national duty for the ODI series in Ireland and the Test series in England.
Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar, who were rested for the ODI series last month, make a return.
On the brighter side, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been rewarded for his recent good form by being made the vice captain for the one-dayers. In Tests, however, it will be the veteran Sachin Tendulkar who will be the vice-captain to Rahul Dravid, who has been retained captain for both series. Though “Dhoni’s performance has been noticed”, it was said that “this selection did not mean that he was being looked at as the future skipper.”
... contd.


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