The national selectors came up with many surprises in their last meeting here on Friday as they sat down to pick up the Indian teams for the two-Test series at home against New Zealand and the Twenty20 international meets.
Barely months after his remarkable recovery from a rare germ cell cancer, Yuvraj Singh has been included in the team for the World T20 to be held in Sri Lanka from September 18. The same team will do business in the two T20Is against New Zealand prior to the biennial event.
Another interesting pick is the selection of senior off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who was dropped from the national side for want of performances and has been out for a year. Hardworking seamer from Tamil Nadu, Lakshmipathy Balaji, makes a comeback to the national side after three years. His remarkable performance with the ball for the triumphant Kolkata Knight Riders in this year’s IPL must have paved the way for his selection. He is yet to play T20Is, though.
Yuvraj’s selection was expected after he was declared fit by the physio and trainer of the Bangalore-based National Cricket Academy, where he has been training for the last one month.
Chairman of selectors Krishnamachari Srikkanth said after the meeting: “Yuvraj has been declared fit, so he makes a comeback. And all of us know he can singlehandedly win matches if he gets going,”
The two T20 Internationals against New Zealand, on September 8 and 11, will test Yuvraj’s fitness after he underwent chemotherapy in the United States earlier this year. Ever since his diagnosis, the left-hander has remained out of action since the second Test match against the West Indies played from November 14-17 in Kolkata last year.
The selection committee took around three-and-a-half hours to decide on the two squads – the bone of contention being the selection of Yuvraj and Harbhajan.
It was learnt that Yuvraj’s selection wasn’t exactly unanimous as a couple of selectors had their reservations about picking him up for the World T20 since he has not played a competitive match for the past nine months. However, the experience and his ability to win matches singlehandedly in the shortest format went in his favour.
As far as Harbhajan’s selection goes, it was purely on his experience at the stage as huge as the World T20, India lacks experience on the spin front. Moreover, he is a member of the victorious World Cup (50-overs format) team of 2011. Harbhajan last played for India against England at Trent Bridge last July-August before returning home due to back injury. He was not considered since then and has been working his way back to form by turning out for Essex in the English County Championship. His best performance till date, though, has been three for 29 against Leicestershire in the 40-over game that was eventually reduced to 25-over affair due to rain.
Another surprise came in the form of leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, who has not done anything extraordinary in the domestic season to push himself back to the fold. He got the nod ahead of the other leg-spinners Rahul Sharma and Amit Mishra. He has also been included in the Test side. Among those missing the nod from the World T20 side is Ajinkya Rahane, who was in prime touch for Jaipur side in the IPL. However, he has been included in the Test team as a reserve opener. Suresh Raina also returns to the Test squad.
Eight of the 15-member team for World T20 – captain MS Dhoni, his deputy Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj, Irfan Pathan, Rohit Sharma, Chawla and Harbhajan – were a part of India’s triumph in the first edition in South Africa in 2007.
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