 The selection of Saurabh Tiwary in the side may not have come as a surprise
to many who saw him bat at the IPL. He almost looked like a younger version of
Yuvraj Singh, and smashed the ball to all parts of the ground to get to three
half centuries.
So, it was quite ironical when Tiwary took the place of Yuvraj in the squad
that will feature in the Asia Cup against the traditional rivals, Pakistan,
Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Tiwary said, "A dream, that of playing for India,
is about to come true. I realise I've been selected in place of Yuvraj Singh,
so the pressure will be more. I'm confident of being able to perform and (thereby)
reducing the pressure"
Tiwary is only the second player from Jharkhand to represent India in international
cricket. The first player is the captain of the side, MS Dhoni. It was said
that Tiwary had been disappointed when he was not selected for the Indian team
in the tri-series in Zimbabwe after most of the main guys were given a break.
However, he has now got a chance to feature in the main team itself, rubbing
shoulders with the best in the business.
Tiwary's father, Sunil Kumar, said that the entire family was happy. He also
said that he realised that his son would make it to the Indian team one day
after his impressive showing in the third version of the IPL.
On the other hand, Krish Srikkanth refused to take any questions on
any individuals and said that this was the best team that they could pick up.
He also said that the side was picked with the fitness and fielding in mind,
because, in the past, games had been lost thanks to these two factors. Srikkanth
refused to answer questions related to the dropping of Yuvraj Singh, but said
that MS Dhoni was quite happy with the team he had got.
Srikkanth also lashed out at the Indian critics who, accordingly to him, had
the habit of panning the selectors for anything wrong with the team. He said
that the winning was a process and there were steps taken to ensure that the
side kept winning over periods of time.
Srikkanth also had an advice for all the fans. He said, "Don't get carried
away by one or two series. If we became the number one Test team, the process
began in 2005 when we started winning abroad under Sourav Ganguly and then had
Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble. It's all about a process"
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