After the loss in the Asia Cup finals, the Indian ODI Team faces off Sri Lanka once again in a five match series starting tomorrow. As in the Test series, the focus will be on how well the Indian middle order handle Mendis and Murali, especially with the absence of Tendulkar.
While the core of the team remains unchanged from the one that played the Asia Cup, there are still six changes in the squad -
Zaheer and Harbhajan back for Sreesanth and Chawla - With Ojha preferred over Chawla based on his performances in the Asia Cup and Sreesanth asked to prove his match fitness, an easy decision of seniors coming back to replace the juniors in the team.
Virat Kohli and Badrinath come in for Uthappa and Ishant Sharma - Uthappa was expected to make way for Sachin, but with Sachin out to injury, Badrinath gets a chance. Ishant gets a rest, but why did Kohli get his spot?
Parthiv Patel for Yusuf Pathan - With Dhoni complaining about non-stop cricket and even skipping the Test series, the selectors have recognized the need for a backup keeper in the team. Parthiv gets the nod over Karthik, though nothing really differentiates the two - both performed poorly in the Test series. Nevertheless, this should give Parthiv some confidence going forward. Yusuf Pathan is unlucky to miss out. He didn't do much wrong in the Asia Cup and if someone had to make way for the backup keeper, it should have been his brother Irfan. While Irfan is the better bowler in helpful conditions, he looks distinctly off-color otherwise and considering the slow pitches in Sri Lanka, Yusuf would have been the better choice.
Munaf for Gony - As I recall, Munaf was dropped for the Kitply and Asia Cup tournaments after a lackluster performance in the CB series wherein questions about his fitness and commitment were questioned. With Gony not grabbing his couple of chances of well enough, Munaf is back. This can mean only one thing - the selectors dropped Munaf more as a warning to get his act together and had every intention of bringing him back. Munaf could now either come back strong or get complacent realizing that there is no better to replace him. Either way, Gony must feel used!
Murali Karthik - He bowled well against Australia and Pakistan last year, but unfortunately got injured. Though he has recovered now, he finds his place in the queue behind Harbhajan taken by two spinners in Ojha and Chawla. Very unlucky for him and am not sure if the selectors even remotely considered his name!
Despite the threat of Mendis and Murali, I still believe our strength is batting and that we should stick to a five bowler strategy. Here is my playing XI for the ODI series -
- Virender Sehwag
- Gautam Gambhir
- Suresh Raina
- Yuvraj Singh
- MS Dhoni
- Rohit Sharma
- Irfan Pathan
- Harbhajan Singh
- Praveen Kumar
- P Ojha
- Zaheer Khan
I prefer RP over Zaheer.
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