Ganguly out and Raina recalled

Sourav Ganguly has been excluded from India’s one-day squad for the Commonwealth Bank series in Australia. The left-handed veteran makes way for Suresh Raina to return to international cricket after an absence of almost a year.

Raina, 21, scored 683 runs at an average of 48.78 in last season’s Ranji Trophy Super League. The weight of such first-class runs has catapulted him back into the thoughts of the selectors. Praveen Kumar, Raina’s teammate at Uttar Pradesh, has also been called into the squad. Kumar took 36 wickets at 16 and topped the averages for his team. The 21-year-old also showed his ability with the bat in averaging over 26.

Continuing the emphasis on youth, the selectors have named legspinner 19-year-old Piyush Chawla in the sixteen. Another Uttar Pradesh player, Chawla has shown a lot of promise, but is yet to establish himself in the senior team. He gets the nod ahead of Murali Kartik, with the selectors showing more faith in wrist-spin than finger-spin.

There is no recall for the experienced pairing of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, despite both supplying influential performances in the ongoing Test series, which Australia leads 2-1. The decision falls in line with recent trends of the selectors, leaving the exclusion of Ganguly as most noteworthy.

BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah said, “The emphasis was on fielding abilities and they [the team management] wanted a young fielding side for the series. That’s why you see a lot of youngsters in the side.” It is believed that captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been influential in the decision, desiring that the core of the victorious World Twenty20 squad be kept intact.

Sreesanth is likely to return to international duty after missing the Test series with a shoulder injury. There is no place, however, for fellow fast bowler Munaf Patel. The selectors have indicated that they desire that he get more match practice before he is considered. Zaheer Khan is yet to recover from a heel injury.

Yusuf Pathan, Manoj Tiwary and Munaf Patel have been placed on injury standby.

India CB Series squad
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Praveen Kumar, RP Singh, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla