OPENER GAUTAM Gambhir, veteran batsman VVS Laxman and seamer Ishant Sharma returned to the Indian side for the three test match home series against New Zealand. These three players had missed the second test match against Australia at Bengaluru with injuries. India sweeped the series 2-0. Former Indian captain Kris Srikkanth led selection committee picked the team for the test series in Chennai this afternoon. India will play a three-match Test series against visitors New Zealand, which will start from November 4-8 in Ahmedabad. Both the countries will also be featuring in a five-match ODI series starting from November 28. Selectors once again over-ruled southpaw batsman Yuvraj Singh and opted for Suresh Raina and Pujara as the middle-order batsmen. They picked three fast bowlers Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma and three specialist spinners Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha. Murali Vijay, who came in for Gambhir in Bangalore and hit a maiden Test century (139 runs), will most likely sit on bench. Young Cheteshwar Pujara, who marked his debut as Laxman's replacement and scored 72 runs in second inning, will also find it difficult to find a berth in the playing eleven. It will be a great opportunity for Sachin Tendulkar to complete his half century of centuries in the test series against New Zealand. Hyderabad will host the second test from November 12-16 and Nagpur the last test from Nov 20-24. The five one-day series will be commence at Guwahati with a one-day match on November 28, Jaipur on December 1, Vadodara on December 4, Bangalore on December 7 and Chennai on December 10. The test squad comprises: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag (vice-captain), Gautam Gambhir, Murali Vijay, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Suresh Raina, Cheteshwar Pujara, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, S Sreesanth, Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra.
0 comments:
Post a Comment