The national selectors today sprung a major surprise by dropping former captain
Rahul Dravid and recalling Virender Sehwag in the 15-member Indian
one-day squad for the first two matches of the upcoming cricket series against
arch-rivals Pakistan.
The 34-year-old Dravid, who struggled for runs right through the recent ODI
series against Australia, was left out of the team which has Uttar Pradesh
paceman Praveen Kumar as the lone new face.
Left-handed opener Gautam Gambhir, who missed the last
four matches in the series against Australia because of an injury, expectedly
made a comeback in place of S Badrinath in the team announced by BCCI Secretary
Niranjan Shah after a meeting of the selection committee here.
Apart from Dravid's exclusion, Sehwag's recall was also a surprise as the Delhi
batsman has not scored too many runs to justify his place in the team.
Chief Selector Dilip Vengsarkar said Dravid was being given a break and should
be back in the team soon.
"We haven't spoken to him yet. We wanted to give him a break for a while.
He is a great player and he will be back soon," Vengsarkar told reporters
after the meeting which lasted close to two hours.
Vengsarkar also said the selection committee had consulted
captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni over telephone before finalising the squad
for the first two matches to be held in Guwahati (Nov 5) and Mohali (Nov 8).
|
