 The Indian side for the South African series has been announced and it is conspicuous
by the absence of some of its big names. In fact, the side has been made only
for the first Test match, with a hope that some of those missing out due to injury
may return back to the side.
The players who miss out of the Test series are Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh, both of whom were injured in the Bangladesh series. Dravid was hit
on the helmet by a Shahadat Hossain bouncer, whereas Yuvraj Singh had a problem
with a hand injury. VVS Laxman had also to fly back because of a finger injury
but he has been declared fit, whereas Sachin Tendulkar, who had a bad fall on
his shoulder is fine as well.
In their place, the Indian squad will now consist of S. Badrinath, thus ensuring
that he will be a part of the playing eleven against South Africa. Also,
Murali Vijay, who has been travelling with the Test team for a couple of series
now, will now play in the first Test as well. Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag
will continue to open the innings, and by the looks of things, Murali Vijay
or Laxman could bat at the number three position.
Laxman has a personal preference for the number three position, whereas Vijay
is a frontline opener, and hence a better bet for that position. Sachin Tendulkar
should continue to bat at four, with either Laxman or Vijay at five - depending
on who is at three. Badrinath will come in at the number six position and captain
MS Dhoni will bat at his customary seven.
And it is not only the batting that is bereft of the injured players. The bowling
will be without S Sreesanth who has failed to recover from his hamstring injury.
This means that the squad will be bolstered by the presence of Sudeep Tyagi
and a new pace bowler in Abhimanyu Mithun. Mithun has had an excellent
run-up in the Ranji trophy, finishing at the top of the wickets tally and has
an ability to swing the ball around.
The other big surprise in the squad is that Bengal's wicket-keeper Wridhimann Saha has been selected in the squad as a back-up to MS Dhoni. Earlier, Dinesh
Karthik had been a part of the side, but repeated failures with the bat seemed
to have got the better of him. Saha will play only if Dhoni pulls up with his
bad back issues before a Test match.
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