The India skipper was clear who his men would be. At the teleconference, he insisted that Ashish Nehra be chosen ahead of Sreesanth despite the latter’s heroics in the just-concluded Test series.
“I am so heart-broken…it’s lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself. Jai Mata di,” S Sreesanth wrote on Twitter, moments after the World Cup squad was made public.
It is not all that difficult to read between the lines: the pacer has lost faith in captain MS Dhoni.
The India skipper was clear who his men would be. At the teleconference, he insisted that Ashish Nehra be chosen ahead of Sreesanth despite the latter’s heroics in the just-concluded Test series.
DNA has gathered that there was a big debate on Sreesanth at the BCCI meeting on Monday, but the skipper’s word settled the issue.
“Dhoni’s thoughts are no secret. He always preferred Nehra to Sreesanth. There was no way Sree would fit in a squad of 15,” a source in the team management said.
The selection committee found merit in Dhoni’s choice. “MS was right in his assessment. Nehra has done well over the last couple of years. Praveen Kumar is very good with the new ball and swings it at 130-135 km/hr. Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel select themselves,” said a couple of insiders.
Dhoni, lately, has had issues with Sreesanth’s attitude besides his slow over rate. The skipper had recently admitted to have warned the mercurial pacer saying it would be difficult to pick him if he did not improve his over rate.
Besides, Dhoni also had problems with Sreesanth’s aggression. “It’s quite difficult to control Sreesanth. Hopefully, he will be on the right side this time, and if he’s supposed to say something, say something that’s not very personal and to the point. When you are representing your country, you try your best to win games... but you always have to be on the right side of that line,” Dhoni had said before the Cape Town Test.
As for the selection, a lot of time was spent discussing Rohit Sharma. It was finally felt that the Mumbai youngster has not done enough to seal his place.
Another point of debate was the selection of a third spinner. DNA learnt that R Ashwin was always the first second-choice. The selectors also brainstormed on whether to take leg-spinner Piyush Chawla. Here again, Dhoni’s word tilted the scale in favour of the UP spinner.
The final verdict was that Amit Mishra, the other leg-spinner among the 30 probables, was more suitable for Tests.
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