Zaheer returns to India Test squad

Gill Saab

Yaar Malang
Left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan has been called back into the Indian Test team for the tour of South Africa scheduled to start next month. Ishant Sharma, who had been dropped from the ODI side against West Indies has also found his way back following a nine-wicket haul for Delhi against Haryana.

Zaheer had last played for India in the Eden Gardens Test against England in December, 2012 but returned impressive performances for India A and Mumbai in the ongoing Ranji Trophy matches. Ishant, who was taken for plenty in the ODI series against Australia, also reclaimed his spot, mainly on the basis of his match-winning show on Sunday.

Interestingly, Zaheer was one of three senior players along with Harbhajan Singh and Virender Sehwag to lose their central contracts last week.

Meanwhile, senior batsmen Gautam Gambhir and Sehwag continued to be ignored despite the former's 153 in difficult conditions over the weekend. Yuvraj Singh, who has had a horrid run in his comeback ODIs retained his place while Wriddhiman Saha was added to the Test squad as a reserve wicketkeeper.

Ambati Rayudu, who made an impressive debut in Zimbabwe earlier this year found favour again and was drafted into both the Test and ODI teams for South Africa. As expected, the selectors decided to go for outright pace, including tearaway fast bowler Umesh Yadav for a tour that is expected to serve up bouncy pitches.

India play three ODIs and two Tests starting December 5.

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

ODI squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravinchandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Zaheer Khan, Ambati Rayudu, Mohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Amit Mishra, Ajinkya Rahane
 

[JUGRAJ SINGH]

Prime VIP
Staff member
Left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan has been called back into the Indian Test team for the tour of South Africa scheduled to start next month. Ishant Sharma, who had been dropped from the ODI side against West Indies has also found his way back following a nine-wicket haul for Delhi against Haryana.
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Zaheer had last played for India in the Eden Gardens Test against England in December, 2012 but returned impressive performances for India A and Mumbai in the ongoing Ranji Trophy matches. The Mumbai speedster is five short of becoming the fourth Indian after Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh to pick up 300 Test match wickets.

Interestingly, Zaheer was one of three senior players along with Harbhajan and Virender Sehwag to lose their central contracts last week.

Ishant, who was taken for plenty in the ODI series against Australia, also reclaimed his spot, mainly on the basis of his match-winning show on Sunday.

Meanwhile, senior batsmen Gautam Gambhir and Sehwag continued to be ignored despite the former's 153 in difficult conditions over the weekend. Yuvraj Singh, who has had a horrid run in his comeback ODIs retained his place while Wriddhiman Saha was added to the Test squad as a reserve wicketkeeper.

"His (Gambhir's) name was discussed, in fact, we discussed a lot of things. Even skipper MS Dhoni was consulted and all the players were selected unanimously," BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel said after a meeting of the selection committee.

Ambati Rayudu, who made an impressive debut in Zimbabwe earlier this year found favour again and was drafted into the Test squad while retaining his place in the ODI team. The 28-year-old Rayudu, who is currently a part of the team in the ongoing ODI series against the West Indies, has played four one-dayers for India.

As expected, the selectors decided to go for outright pace, including tearaway fast bowler Umesh Yadav for a tour that is expected to serve up bouncy pitches. There are seven surviving members from the previous Test squad that had toured South Africa in 2010-11, during which Sachin Tendulkar got his last two Test centuries.

India play three ODIs and two Tests starting December 5.

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

ODI Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravinchandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Mohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Amit Mishra, Ajinkya Rahane[/img]
 

[JUGRAJ SINGH]

Prime VIP
Staff member


Teams:
South Africa (Playing XI): Graeme Smith(c), Alviro Petersen, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers(w), Faf du Plessis, Jean-Paul Duminy, Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir

India (Playing XI): Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravichandran Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma

Toss:-Indian Cricket Team won the toss and elected to bat first





 
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