Zeecric Bureau
Bangalore, March 17: The Indian team for the first two Tests against South Africa was announced after a marathon two hour long meeting here on Monday evening. Mumbai’s Wasim Jaffer got the nod ahead of in-form Delhi batsman Gautam Gambhir in the 14-member squad.
As far as the rest of the batting is concerned, the Big Four Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman as expected will form the core.
The latest pace sensation Ishant Sharma will be missing out on the first Test, atleast as he still has not recovered from his injury. The Delhi speedster, who impressed one and all with his pace and aggression Down Under, has seen significant healing but needs time for the pain to subside and full healing to take place. The lanky pacer also suffers from an inflammation on his forefinger and Gloster advised him to continue with anti-inflammatory techniques until the problem is resolved.
RP Singh makes a comeback alongwith while left arm spinner Murali Kartik. Kartik, hence gets another chance to revive is stuttering career. Young leggie Piyush Chawla, who too showed a lot of heart in the CB series finals has been kept as the reserve spinner. Harbhajan Singh, who informed BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah of his fitness on Monday morning, will be undergoing a fitness test on March 21 along MS Dhoni. Dinesh Karthick has been kept as the reserve for Dhoni. Skipper Anil Kumble completes the spin department.
Gambhir was widely believed as a likely replacement of Jaffer, who had suffered a torrid time in Australia. He had aggregated just 49 runs in the 6 innings of the 3 Tests he had played Down Under.
Gambhir on the otherhand had been the most successful batsman in the one day series that followed the Test matches. He aggregated 404 at a phenomenal average of 55 in the 10 one dayers he played. He also scored 2 centuries.
The first Test is schedules for March 26 at Chennai.
Team: Anil Kumble (Capt), MS Dhoni, Wasim Jaffer, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik, S Sreesanth and RP Singh
Reserve players: Piyush Chawla and Dinesh Karthick.
