SA Tour Of India : Zaheer Makes In, Gambhir Will Still Have To Wait!

The Ranji games did wonders to the veteran bowler, Zaheer Khan. The latest announcement from BCCI confirm back the ace bowler of India back into the squad. The South African tour of India will see Zaheer after a period, as he was out due to injuries.

Unfortunately Gautam Gambhir, who shared the same space as Zaheer Khan has been left out and not being mentioned by the selectors. Gambhir who was downgraded to Group B set of contracted players by the BCCI recently did maintain a healthy average of 74 plus in the ongoing Ranji season, but still failed to secure a spot.

"His name was discussed, in fact, we discussed a lot of things. Even skipper M S Dhoni was consulted and all the players were selected unanimously," BCCI Secretary Sanjay Patel said after a meeting of the selection committee here to Indian Express.

The 35-year-old Zaheer, who had been battling fitness issues and was even dropped from the BCCI's list of contracted players, was chosen in the 17-member Test squad after taking 13 wickets in three Ranji Trophy matches at an average of 19.84 this season.

The SA tour will include 3 ODI's and 2 Test sessions. This will be most watched session as it will lack the presence of Sachin Tendulkar. Also the surprise entry of the squad is 28 year old Ambatti Rayadu, the in form domestic player. He gets his chance for both ODI and Test match.

Unfortunately fans of Virendar Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh will still be in sorrow as the two are still not included in the squads. Pacer Ishant Sharma, who has been struggling for form, was retained in both the squads. The gangling speedster took a match-haul of nine wickets in Delhi's win over Haryana in a Ranji Trophy match yesterday. Umesh Yadav will also see the SA pitches, after being dropped earlier for the India Australia match due to poor form.

Yuvraj Singh continues in the ODI squad despite the weak form. The team also includes rookie Haryana pacer Mohit Sharma has also been included in the 16-member ODI squad. Wriddhiman Saha, a regular in the overseas Test tours, was retained as a reserve wicketkeeper, pipping Tamil Nadu's Dinesh Karthik and Gujarat's Parthiv Patel.

The three ODIs are scheduled to be held in Johannesburg, Durban and Centurion on December 5, 8, 11 respectively.

This will be followed by a two-day practice match against South African Invitational XI at the Willowmoore Park in Benoni.

The first Test match starts on December 18 at the New Wanderers while the 'Boxing Day' Test from December 26 will be played at the Kingsmead in Durban.

Test squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kolhi, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, Wriddhiman Saha, Zaheer Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Pragyan Ojha

ODI Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kolhi, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Amit Mishra.

Source: Indian Express
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- Unknown Updated at: Monday, November 25, 2013