 The Indian team to tour West Indies has been announced and although there
have been many changes to it, the same has been on expected lines. India plays
West Indies in four ODIs and one T20I starting from the 26th of June.
Zaheer Khan has been rested because of his shoulder injury that he had sustained
in the Indian Premier League, while Sachin Tendulkar has also opted out
because of his finger injury. Virender Sehwag, who was involved in a
major controversy during the ICC World T20 pertaining to his injury has also
been ruled out. In fact, there have been reports which say that his participation
in the Champions Trophy, which will be held in South Africa at the end
of September, is in grave doubts as well.
Apart from them, Suresh Raina has had a thumb fracture and will stay
out of the tournament, while Munaf Patel and Irfan Pathan have been dropped
to make way for some other bowlers given their form and fitness.
R.P.Singh's amazing run in the IPL, that saw him get a purple cap has catapulted
him in the team, as he replaces Irfan Pathan. There is a rather big surprise
in the selection of Ashish Nehra, who hasn't played any international
cricket in the last four years, but had an excellent IPL going for him. In fact,
even in the first edition of the IPL, when he represented the Mumbai Indians,
he had bowled well enough, but wasn't a part of the selectors' radar then.
Ravindra Jadeja also makes his entry into the ODI side after having begun to
cement his place in the T20Is, and despite having played an inning that invariably
pushed India to the brink of elimination from the ICC World T20.
S.Badrinath, who had earlier played in the ODIs against Sri Lanka, but was
dropped from the Indian side to tour New Zealand also made a comeback, while
Murali Vijay, an opener who has featured in one test match for India against
the Australians has been selected for the ODIs as well.
The only new face in the side, who has no international exposure whatsoever
is Abhishek Nayar. Nayar is all all-rounder from Mumbai and has represented
the Mumbai Indians for both editions of the IPL. He has had a decent run in
the tournament, and made his runs at number five or six and picked up the wickets
bowling slow medium pace in the middle overs.
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