SQUAD FOR THE THIRD AND FOURTH TEST MATCHES…INDIA VS AUSTRALIA

The third test match between India and Australa, in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy gets underway in Mohali from 14 March 2013.

The FIVE WISE MEN in BCCI, have selected the squad for the third and the fourth test matches. They have actually trimmed the squad to a 14-member unit as compared to the 15-member squad.

Out-of-form Virendra Sehwag has been LEFT OUT (or DROPPED) but no replacement has been chosen for him.

Sehwag has played 104 test matches scoring 8,586 runs with 316 being the highest score at an average of 49.34 with 23 centuries to his credit.

The last time that Sehwag scored big was 117 against England in Nov last. Thereafter his scores have been 25, 30, 9, 23, 49, 0, 2, 19 and 6. With these unimpressive numbers one should definitely not expect himself to find favor with the selectors.

This, however, may not be the ‘end of the road’ for Virendra Sehwag. This break actually gives him time to ‘introspect’ and spend more time in the ‘nets’ and also to pay domestic games, as much as possible, and get back into the scoring ways. Once he can strike ‘form’ it would be a ‘cake walk’ for him to get back into the Indian squad.

The problems haunting this, otherwise swashbuckling batsman, are quite a few. His feet does not move, his reflexes have slowed down (age-related), his ‘eye-hand’ coordination is abysmal, to say the least. Clearly Sehwag needs to work on all these areas and should keep himself in the fray for the South African series, later this year.

Mohali, the venue for the third test match has, historically, provided a lot of bounce and the ball would normally ‘come to the bat’, a situation in which Virendra Sehwag would have loved to bat. Maybe the selectors could have given him ONE more opportunity to strike form……….but then there are other youngsters ‘waiting in the wings’ for their break-through.

With this new development, it is expected that Shikhar Dhawan would ‘get his due’ and likely to partner Murali Vijay in opening the innings at Mohali. Dhawan has been doing really well in the dometic circuit. He is still a fringe player in Indian cricket and has proved himself to be a suitable reserve opener in all formats of the game.

Now that he might get an opportunity to play at the top level, it remains to be seen whether he can cope up to the demands / rigors / grind of a test match an too against a team like Australia. Well, if he succeeds he might find himself boarding the plane to South Africa, come November.

While the general expectation is that it would be Shikhar Dhawan who would give company to Murali Vijay at Mohali, Indian skipper, Mahendra Singh Dhoni might spring up a surprise bringing in the young Ajnkya Rahane, instead.

The cool Indian skipper has always been known to be THINKING OUT OF THE BOX, more often than not.

Well……let us all wait and watch…………..!

K Subramanian

09 March 2013