Harbhajan Singh has been dumped by the national selection committee for the first Test against the West Indies.
Are Harbhajan Singh’s days as an international cricketer numbered? Well, that is anybody’s conjecture, but for now the feisty off-spinner is out of reckoning. The veteran of 98 Tests has been dumped by the national selection committee for the first Test against the West Indies.
He was ignored for the just-concluded one-day series against England. DNA had reported that the Jalandhar player’s chances of selection were bleak.
The Krishnamachari Srikkanth-led committee chose R Ashwin instead. The Tamil Nadu off-spinner has been selected, presumably, for the variety in his armoury.
The 25-year-old spinner has been in awesome form. He had taken 10 wickets in the five matches in the recent one-day series against England. Apart from reposing faith in Pragyan Ojha, the selectors have also included Ajinkya Rahane for his consistent performances in one-dayers.
In fact, the squad, announced after a meeting of the selection committee in Kolkata on Friday, includes five uncapped players: Ajinkya Rahane, fast bowlers Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav, and spinners Rahul Sharma and Ashwin.
The seniors Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh, who were injured during the tour of England in July-September, have been named for the first of three Tests.
Harbhajan, who has 406 scalps in 98 Tests, has paid the price for a poor Test series in England where India were humbled 4-0 and lost their number one ranking, before suffering a 3-0 defeat in the one-dayers. He bagged just two wickets at an average of 143.50 in the two Tests he played, before heading home with an abdominal strain.
“We’ve taken everybody into consideration. We had a detailed discussion with captain and coach. We had a healthy discussion,” chief selector Srikkanth said in Kolkata after the meeting. “We have the best team. We had to look at building the side from a future perspective also. You have seen the results yourself. When we gave opportunity to the youngsters, they won a series 5-0,” the chairman remarked.
Srikkanth avoided a direct answer when asked about Harbhajan’s omission. “These are selection-related issues. We cannot discuss these matters here. These are internal matters of the selection committee,” he said
Praising Dhoni, Srikkanth said the selectors were already planning for the Australian tour. “We must give credit to Dhoni. He has done an excellent job. We discussed a lot about the Australian tour and what should be the way forward. The one good thing that has come out of the one-day series is that we had a very healthy competition which is always good for Indian cricket.”
With inputs from agencies
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}