 The Indian side for the Asia Cup has been announced and the biggest news
coming out from the announcement is that Yuvraj Singh has been dropped from the
squad. Sachin Tendulkar, who had requested the Board to be rested has not been
selected, whereas Yuvraj Singh, who had been battling form and fitness issues
has been dropped from the side.
There were rumours earlier that Tendulkar had asked for some rest and would
be granted the same. It was also been said that Yuvraj Singh would be
dropped because the selectors were at the tether of their patience, what with
his form showing no signs of improvement and the fitness looking like a major
issue. Yuvraj Singh has suffered from major knee injuries in the past, but that
has also affected his fitness in a manner that it is very evident that his weight
has shot up and the fielding has become an issue.
The BCCI, in its media release, said that the Tendulkar had requested to give
him some time to spend time with his family. There was no explanation on why
Yuvraj was axed.
Amongst the others who were selected, were Jharkhand’s batsman, Saurabh Tiwary, Ashok Dinda, who was a part of the squad that went to Zimbabwe and
R Ashwin, who featured in only one game in the tri-series in Zimbabwe, but did
well enough to merit another go in the Asia Cup.
Tiwary has had an excellent Ranji trophy season last year, where he played
for Jharkhand. The team was not a part of the Elite group, but yet, an average
of 98 makes for awesome viewing. He smashed three centuries in the five games
that he played in for the Jharkhand side. to go with that, he had an excellent
IPL as well, as he scored three half centuries in the tournament and went on
to become one of the players to be responsible for Mumbai Indians’ reaching
of the finals.
Amongst the bowlers, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra return back to the side along
with Praveen Kumar, while Dinda gets selected again. The spin department will
be taken care of by Harbhajan Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha.
Squad: MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli,
Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar,
Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Pragyan Ojha, Ashok Dinda, R Ashwin, Saurabh
Tiwary.
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