The Indian squad had been named. Due to injury concerns the team has been named only for the 1st 2 matches v. SL. Ganguly, Kaif will have to prove their fitness by the end of the 2nd match to considered for the forthcoming matches/series.
- Virender Sehwag
- Sachin Tendulkar
- Gautam Gambhir
- Rahul Dravid (captain)
- Yuvraj Singh
- Venugopal Rao
- Suresh Raina
- JP Yadav
- MS Dhoni (wk)
- Harbhajan Singh
- Murali Kartik
- Irfan Pathan
- Ajit Agarkar
- S Sreesanth
- RP Singh.
Kiran More and the selection team have done well. It seems, now that the overpowering, imposing obstacle of the Gangles-Dalmiya axis is missing, the essential parts of the Indian cricket machine have got a life and mind of their own.
Taking out the rookies, the rest practically selected themselves. The selection of the rookies named was expected, especially after the Challenger Tryout Trophy completed recently. It was the omissions that were the surprising element of this team.
Ganguly: Injury – physical and mental. Injury or not, would Gangles WANT to be back, now that his powerbase seems to be eroding.
Kaif: Injury – unfortunate. I would have liked to see the Chappell-Kaif-Dravid trigon working in the absence of Ganguly the batter. From the noises in the media, Kaif is the likely choice as potential longer term captain, once this ‘rough’ patch in Indian cricket smooths itself out. Kaif seems to be the answer to ‘After Ganguly and Dravid, who?’
VVSLaxman: Very Very Sad Laxman? This was surprising. Going on previous selections, a 48 and a 100 would have cemented a team place for a year, guaranteed. More print will be out criticizing, justifying, commending this omission. Especially with his involvment in the Chappell-Ganguly spat recently. Did Kiran More and the selection team have the memory of this at the back of their minds?
Zed: He has been inconsistent of late. The rest should do him good and also might get that ‘fire in the belly’ reignited. This omission should also serve as a message to other players. Should this rational, logical trend continue, the players will understand that performance is paramount to maintain a place in the side. It’s how you play and not who you know, that will get you selected.
Sree Santh caught the necessary attention and was duly rewarded for dedicated, disciplined bowling. He should now be taken into the fold and nurtured and instill the requirements of performance at this level. Well done Sree Santh.
Chappell, the Fans and possibly the Indian team got what they have been asking for. A non-biased (?), non-partisan selection. Time to get this machine into gear and justify the changes taking place, albeit slowly.
osted earlier under cricket alter-ego - RJ on [World Cricket Blog]
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I like the team selection though I would surely like to see Kaif in the team. Some had to go and it was obvious that it will be ganguly to go so better start the process now than near the world cup. Maybe he will regain his form you never know, the king of comeback!
Posted by: shobhna | October 15, 2005 at 00:30