Mumbai: The 15-member Indian cricket squad, announced on Sunday for the first two Tests against Australia starting February 22 saw the much expected changes as out-of-form opening batsman Gautam Gambhir has finally been dropped and has been replaced by Shikhar Dhawan, who had an impressive Ranji Season and Irani Trophy.
Sehwag has also not been in the best of form and missed a chance to get some runs under his belt by skipping the Irani Cup tie due to a stomach bug. But the selectors have retained him with Murali Vijay and Dhawan being the other openers. Murali Vijay booked his berth by scoring an impressive hundred in Irani Trophy and selectors were also impressed by Shikhar Dhawan who showed good temperament in the match.
The only disappointment was that of Suresh Raina, who despite his brilliant run with the bat, didn’t manage to get into the squad which was a big surprise. Meanwhile his Ranji teammate, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar has been given a chance to prove his mettle in the longer format of the game. Bhuvaneshwar bowled terrific spells against England and Pakistan and picked up wickets in the early stages of the innings. He has already shown that he can bowl long spells consistently.
Turbanator Harbhajan Singh made his return to the squad to form trio of spin bowling with Pragyan Ojha and Ravichandran Ashwin. Harbhajan’s record against Australia was enough to include him into the squad.
The selection committee, headed by Sandeep Patil, pondered for over two hours at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai and made three much needed changes to the squad that played against England in Nagpur in December
With Zaheer Khan, Umesh Yadav and Irfan Pathan recovering from their injuries, it will be a best time for Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar to cement their places.
Gambhir who has been dropped from the Test Squad will lead India A in a practice match against Australia from February 16 to 18 in place of Dhawan.
Squad: MS Dhoni (captain & wicket keeper), Virender Sehwag, M Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Chetashwar Pujara, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashok Dinda.