Test squad picked for first two tests against SA

Jaffer, Yuvraj retained in Test squad as selectors stick with experience

The Dilip Vengsarkar-chaired national selection committee sprung no surprises in the course of its 90-minute meeting at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Monday evening. The 14-member team was announced by the BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah after he received the go-ahead from Board president Sharad Pawar, who was busy at a Parliament session. The selectors expectedly stuck to the team that did duty in Australia, but at least for one man, tragedy struck even as the meeting was in progress. Left-arm spinner Murali Kartik, fielding in the Deodhar Trophy tie between Central Zone and West Zone, suffered a ligament tear in his left ankle while attempting to get to a hardhit straight drive by Virendra Sehwag. The unfortunate Railwayman who was first named in the squad was later ruled out. Ironically enough, Karthik’s replacement is to be young leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, off whose bowling the shot had been struck by a rampaging Sehwag. Chawla had first been put on standby for Harbhajan Singh. For Delhi, there was some disappointment, as Ishant Sharma was ruled out due to injury while Gautam Gambhir, the star of India’s ODI campaign in Australia, was ignored. Ishant Sharma was asked by the Board to take rest for another week as a precautionary measure before undergoing another assessment, following the fitness test on Sunday. Should he have recovered enough by then, there is every chance that he will be added on as the 15th member for the second Test at Ahmedabad, BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah informed. The meeting was also attended by skipper Anil Kumble and new coach Gary Kirsten, who revealed later that he thoroughly enjoyed his first experience as part of a selection meeting. “It’s going to be a learning curve. At the end of the day, you have got a whole lot of people that have got certain ideas and opinions about things. And there are times when you are going to have a difference of opinion,” he said. Kirsten, as also Kumble, didn’t have a vote at the meeting but wasn’t too perturbed about that. Along with the 14-man squad — picked for the first two Tests of the three-Test series — the selectors also named two standbys in wicketkeeper/batsman Dinesh Karthik and spinner Piyush Chawla and asked ODI skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and offie Harbhajan Singh to report at the NCA here for a fitness test on March 21, five days before the first Test at Chennai on March 26. Now that Chawla is already in, the wise men will have to come up with another name in case Harbhajan is ruled out. As it stands, the squad consists of seven batsmen, one wicketkeeper batsman, three spinners and three new ball operators. Whatever discussion took place behind closed doors, apart from the focus on who was injured, who was not and whose fitness was yet to be tested, only two names — that of opener Wasim Jaffer and Yuvraj Singh — had any contestants. Having delivered in the last home series against Pakistan, Jaffer was rightly retained, the contenders for his spot Gautam Gambhir and Akash Chopra losing out in the process. As for Yuvraj, his four abject failures in the first two Tests in Australia notwithstanding, the sheer talent that the stylish left-hander possesses just could not be ignored. With regard to the fast men, it was decided that three pacers would do — for sure only two will play in any one home Test. Thus, there was no looking beyond the fit again RP Singh and S Sree Santh, with utility man Irfan Pathan joining them. The only question that was left unanswered was that of the support staff for Kirsten. “That hasn’t been finalised,” revealed the coach, adding that it was likely that bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad and fielding coach Robin Singh were likely to be retained. “At this stage it looks likely, so hopefully that will happen,” said Kirsten.

The Squad: Anil Kumble (captain), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (vice-captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Virendra Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan, RP Singh, S Sreeshant, Harbhajan Singh and Piyush Chawla. Coach: Gary Kirsten.