India on Friday dropped star batsmen Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly for next month's one-day series in Bangladesh in an attempt to rebuild after the World Cup debacle. Bowlers Harbhajan Singh, Ajit Agarkar and Irfan Pathan were the other casualties in an expected shake-up following India's first round exit from the showpiece event.
Tendulkar and Ganguly were, however, selected for the two Test matches that follow the three one-day internationals on the 23-day tour starting on May 10. Veteran leg-spinner Anil Kumble, who quit one-day cricket after the World Cup, was also picked for the Tests.
Tendulkar, the most successful limited-overs batsman in history with 14,847 runs and 41 centuries, managed just 210 runs in nine of his last 10 one-day innings. The Mumbai batsman, who turns 34 next Tuesday, had scores of seven, 57 not out and zero during the disappointing World Cup campaign.
Chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar insisted both Tendulkar and Ganguly were "rested", saying they will be considered for the tour of England in July. It was evident the selectors were looking beyond the established stars after being ordered by the cricket board to pick a "young team" for the Bangladesh tour.
Uncapped 21-year-old Bengal batsman Manoj Tewari was selected for the one-dayers, while left-arm spinner Rajesh Pawar, 27, was added to the Test squad. Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, left-arm seamer Rudra Pratap Singh, off-spinner Ramesh Powar and batsmen Gautam Gambhir and Dinesh Mongia also got the nod for the shorter version.
Aggressive opener Virender Sehwag was retained for the one-day matches despite scoring just 270 runs in his last 10 matches, but was sacked from the Test squad.
India, the 1983 World Cup champions and 2003 finalists, were beaten by Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to bow out in the preliminary stage of the tournament in the Caribbean.
Former Test star-turned-commentator Ravi Shastri will be interim coach for the tour as officials search for a replacement for Greg Chappell, who did not extend his two-year tenure after the World Cup. The first two one-dayers will be played in Dhaka on May 10 and 12 followed by the third in the port city of Chittagong on May 15. The Test matches will be held in Chittagong (May 18-22) and Dhaka (May 25-29).
TEST SQUAD: Rahul Dravid (capt), Wasim Jaffar, Sachin Tendulkar, Venkatsai Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Dinesh Karthick, Anil Kumble, Ramesh Powar, Rajesh Pawar, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Zaheer Khan, Vikram Rajvir Singh, Munaf Patel.
ONE-DAY SQUAD: Rahul Dravid (capt), Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Manoj Tewari, Dinesh Mongia, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Dinesh Karthick, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Zaheer Khan, Rudra Pratap Singh, Piyush Chawla, Ramesh Powar. Tour cricket manager: Ravi Shastri.
Comments
Comments are closed.